Holy Day

Distanced by land sea  and culture

Driven by greed some, need many,

Waking hours turn to working hours

And when eyes close but briefly

Homeland comes as a longing dream

For the elders and for the young ones

Nightmares of another school day.

 Uniformed as one in dress in school

But  kept apart in heart by colour

The kids  acquire accent,habits

Grow long faces and cut short

Elders talks. Shy skirts knee high now

 Shrunk to the size of a broad belt

 Show a pearl stuck on the place

That  fed life in mother’s womb.

Dresses that reveal  hide

 The complex that complexions

Brought about , One fair other dark.

When dating is a step ahead

In dark, black or white

All  are gray and all are equal.

For a brief moment promiscuity

Promises to dull the pain

Of defying parental protection.

Fairy tale festivals once in a while

Held in  God’s abode in a strange soil

Calls all to unite briefly to smile

And separate. In glassed  prison

Of speeding cars in cool comfort

To race ahead of each other.

Reach the Present, not a gift.

 Yet  when the  colours mix

On this Holi Day, black gray

And  whites  from North

South East West,   dresses and faces

Glowing   in  rainbow hues,

My Hope rises.  Colours will wash away,

But the sounds of Laughter

And oneness of the moment

Will keep the embers of hope alive

That jeans may change shapes

Not the genes of the  mother(land).

Places of worship was not to seek

God within the walls but feel Him

On such a day as this Holy Day.

 T.S. Gopal

7^th March 2004 in Melbourne

More Poems By Gopal

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