She Must Look A Little Like This

O beautiful Mother
of the divine tilikam
the colour of poppies
your forehead shines
like a river running wide.
Exquisite your brows
arched as mountain tops
eyes like white swans
swimming in the crystal lake
cheeks fair as drifting clouds
long lashes casting shadows deep.

On the long bridge
of your small nose
dazzle solitaires unmined
as two caves in snowy peaks
Oh your nostrils hide.
Those full lips like lotuses bloom
yielding to your daughter’s plea
of your chin there are stories untold
it appears to me
the pointed end of a peepul leaf.

And then there’s your hair
dark as the night of a waning moon
fanning a starless sky
braided in your hair
is our Milky Way.
Molten gold adorns your neck
draped in silks, unearthly raiments
you are seated Mother
on a magnificent throne
where the three Gods
bow to your cosmic form.

O Mother of the Universe
be my mother
put your arms around me
just as a mother of this earth
mothers her child
be that mother to me
come to me
close…closer still
touch your shapely nose to mine
Could you not come to me in a dream
lay your cool hand upon my head
be that mother to me?