Dervish

By Shailendra Yadav

Queries into the heart’s abyss,

In the ancient territory of bliss;

Invocation to manifestation,

An attempt for revelation.

Flapping against winds,

Or gliding with currents,

Dancing with precision,

Or whirling as an expression.

One born out of a strike,

Or one that breathes through a reed pipe.

It’s not easy to tell,

Yet we must ask and dwell —

In the ascetic calm of the non-violent man,

Or in violence fulfilling a divine plan.

In mad rapture of longing and induced pang,

Or in the mythical balance of Yin and Yang.

And so, what one does finding such treasure?

Takes vows to abandon pleasure,

Or loses self in vision beyond measure;

Celebrates and gives birth to ritual,

Or dives in depths of soul — perpetual.

Not through scripture or borrowed wisdom;

To understand disease — start with symptom.

Mysterious are the ways of bliss,

Many seek, but sway and miss.

By Shailendra Yadav