AT EVENING PRAYER

on your mazaare-aqdas*
the sun
so gently sets
like you
in simple white salwar**
soft kameez**
this setting sun
has learnt to soothe
with his blush turban

then
in the gloom before Roshnee***
the marble courtyard ripples
like tranquil oceans
like very small children at play
or very hungry thin old men
at supper

I am overwhelmed
by red rose petals
and incense
sounds sweepers make
so much offered
so much to give away
before the muezzin calls
to evening prayer
kafirs stand
mute with wellness
god is great
the faithful
turn their head
this way and that

harmoniums dhohlaks^ and clapping hands
on marble that is water
a reasonable Banyan tree
and qawwals^^ come to sing
'His best His dearest'
sparrows come
thousands of small birds
into the tree to rest
fervently
the sparrows sleep
I have seen this

but I don't much know
this business of asking and giving
these tears this ululation
this beating of breasts
the opulence of new wives
and children
again and again

you get called "Garib Nawaz"^^^
you give
but
errant children
must come home


but no worms
god cannot be great
enough feet
to walk to crawl
frequent sex
leafy trees
after which we

sleep poor
and clap with the songs

*Mazaare-aqdas - shrine
**Salwar, kameez - loose pyjamas and shirt
***roshnee - lights (in this case the lighting of the candles)
^dholak - drums
^^qawwals - those who sing qawwalis, songs with a particular set of beats, sung by a leader and his group, frequently used by Sufis among many others.
^^^Garib Nawaz - (the protector of the 'poor', poor in faith) (Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chishti (1138-1225AD), the famous Sufi saint.


-Ashok Niyogi


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