Your Mercy

Before I had the luck
or as I see it now
Your Mercy
came down on me
like the star‑light
penetrating through
the encircling gloom
I little knew
what form to meditate.

The gods of my fathers
were all there
all lying transfixed
in a death-like trance
inert, unresponsive
like fragments of a phantom.

All came alive
on a sudden
each rising afresh
shaking off the dust of ages
restored to his pristine glory
when in the star‑light
of Your Mercy
flashed forth as forms
through which you, my Swami,
had manifested yourself.

Such an impregnable rock
is thrown up out of the quick-sands.
My lost gods are recovered for me.

Behind my closed eyes
blooms out a world
rich with the fragrance
of lotus‑feet
the twang of the arrow
the enchanting flute‑melody
the effulgence of the swan‑borne
goddess, her fingers playing at Vina,
the drum, the trident,
the snake‑roll, the crescent
of Shiva the androgynous.

~Dr. P. P. Sharma, Kanpur
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Nov. 1981