iNDIA,
I wish I could join in the song
I wish I could call you India
I wish I could call you by your name
and not be lost to you as an alien forever.
I wish I couldn’t see so clearly with my eyes,
Blurred with the Betwa
that chokes and dries,
Still dries and chokes the throats
of deferred living ghosts.
I wish my tears could drown the waves of their thrashing limbs,
That die without recourse.
I wish our thirst could be quenched
with the saffron dust that you mush in my face.
Dust that fleds from Kash’ to Kan’,
and Remains of Men when lost is Man****
I wish I were as blind
as the day I let
the corrupt Trinity into my arms.
I wish I worshiped passivity
And knelt hollow before the altar of dubious cope
Most of all, my prayers betray
I wish I still could wish you a Happy Birthday