Deliverance

By Rajiv Khandelwal

Mother 

Had passed away

A few months before 

The Indian ‘Festival of Lights’

She was the last of her generation 

Resident of the ancestral kothi

Partitioned amongst descendants

Who live divided

Yet have one main exit gate

Are temporarily united 

In grief and celebration

With varying degrees 

Of feeling 

The smoky question was

Should each family

Light their section of the kothi

Or keep it dark

In mourning?

Some wanted diyas lit

Not for spiritual enlightenment

Not to burn away ego, greed, anger

Not to ward off negative forces

But because they could not miss

This one celestial night 

To dispel darkness at their door

Ensuring  

Goddess Lakshmi

Bearer of wealth and fortune

Finds their door 

Does not by pass them

Some wanted darkness

As couldn’t have visitors 

View them celebrating 

And not mourning

At least 

For the religion defined period

We the mourning-mute sons of the departed

San suggestions  

Now know full well

That this Diwali 

Would finally shatter

Any public show of togetherness 

Will free us ALL 

From bonds 

Of ancestral blood 

Shared space

Closed proximity

Thanks Maa     

By Rajiv Khandelwal