BY JAN HAAG
VEDIC CHANT
4/29-5/6-00
Your heart filled with terror, O Devayani --
what is your place in the
universe?
A speck smaller than a galaxy on the Hubble
Deep
Field,
one of the smaller specks,
fuzzy, not distinct in any
way.
Vedic chanting began five thousand years ago.
Have you heard
the chanting?
Do you hear it in the stars? The molecules?
Eating
durian and raspberries,
the stink and the nectar of the
Gods.
Indra wove his net, spiked it with
pearls, opalescent,
each
reflecting the whole,
the pitiful meander that is your
life.
Yet you have heard the chanting,
felt your heart
respond:
as your heart, so the Gods,
wavering, guttural, in the
moonlight,
across the light path of the Ganges.
Will you return
to Banaras?
Will you sit on the ghats?
What does your chanting heart
say?
What has the moon writ
in the sky?
Or will you remain
American,
chanting through cold December days.,
dreaming of the hot
ghats and the empty plain.
O Devayani, O Shiva,
why can't it be
simple?
Copyright © 2000 Jan Haag
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Jan Haag may be reached via e-mail: jhaag@u.washington.edu
BY JAN HAAG