God make me a poet of power
with a force and light like love and fire.
With words that are hard and heavy, stubborn
and obstinate like a cancer or my father.
Give me the words to build a farther world,
words that breathe and move and shiver.
May prepositions flow freely in relation to of by my being.
Give me the courage to throw this body of mine
into the funeral pyre, that I'd have the wherewithal
to pick myself up after and scatter these ashes.
Give me a will that would break its own limits
and dive into dark waters while the waves crash at the cliffs.
That is why I was born with arms, to swim deeper
than I was born to swim, that you could tell by the way
I give myself to the other half in my hand, juices dripping
down my chin and neck, it tastes good to him, it smells
sharper and sour. Grant me a bold new lucidity
in this day, and the words with which to carry it.

12/29/2006

Posted on 12/29/2006
Copyright © 2010 Rajeev Rajendran