I sank in a tank 

 

The school days, and small trip to out skirt, the leaders had warned us

– no deviation from the assigned path,

no mischief of any kind, no adventures at all.

And that was enough indication itself for me,

to get into one of it, may be subconsciously.

 

And I jumped into a large tank with cemented bricked walls,

and I did not know swimming, being young, had never learnt.

I felt I was sinking, shouted out to close friends,

and was then in a moment rescued,

we escaped the punishment by hiding the facts.

 

After several years, I supervised my tiny granddaughter,

playing in a similar tank in the backyard of my house,

though it was very safe that she had a floating tube,

we all supervised her playing and swimming,

in the waters of this cemented bricked tank.

 

Me and my granddaughter both are caught in the whirlpool,

of waters in the tanks that have no walls – open to infinite directions,

we are flung open in this galaxy, in this universe,

only tied to the centre of this planet by gravity

–         only by action at a distance, invisible force,

–         you can feel, but cannot see.

 

We are like the ‘Digambers’, ‘Dishambers’,

who live naked on this Earth (mostly in India),

they do not wear any clothes,

their clothes are the ‘Digas’, ‘Dishas’, the directions – 4 or many,

they are covered by these directions – which stretch to infinity,

they are cloth-less but not direction less,

they are naked but their minds are covered,

and protected with wisdom,

they do not need and do not use artificial covers,

what a profound philosophy!

 

We too are also ‘Digambers’, ‘Dishambers’,

although, we cover our bodies with clothes,

our outer selves are covered with,

the same 4 or more and yet far reaching directions.

 

These eternities and their infinite directions are around us,

-and ‘watching’ – all the time, for all the lifetime: our deeds,

our follies, our outward nakedness, our naked acts,

our naked cruelty, naked desires, our naked plots to kill others,

our madness – whether we are wearing the clothes now,

or were not wearing then (thousands of years ago)!

Hope someday, somebody or we will (learn to) rescue us,

from sinking deep into the darkness of these acts. 

 

From: Naked Emotions: Free Verses and Thoughts – In Search of Meaning

of Life. JIRARA ( Jitendrasinh Raol)