Gods in Kerala
Here in south India
Next to colorful fabrics,
abundance of fresh baskets of petals.
And girls with beautiful black eyes
with People worshiping awaiting Gods
With smell of intoxicating sandal wood
and burning incense,
all hands are up towards all this Gods
asking for something
Stores are filled with statues of Gods
God of poetry
God of wealth
God of health
God of love
God of rain and light
God of everything and anything
And I am thinking with all these rose petals
in baskets and colorful bags,
and the aroma of intense perfumes
I must go visit the Gods
This is Kerala,” Gods own house”,
and any statue you see
Is a small God , symbol of giving
Every day with an stem of flower I visit a God
One day visiting Krishna, God of love
Another day visiting Lakshmiri, God of light
One day I decided to visit poor neighborhoods!
Old and ruined houses with pile of garbage next to broken doors
I looked at worn out and sad faces of skinny dogs,
thirsty, hungry and weary , along the fat and strong cows,
marching freely and happily on the streets
I see an old lady with frail body
carrying a big load of wood on her back
barefooted men and women everywhere
Here in south India I can see with my eyes
that all the Gods sitting and doing nothing.
The God of money have been sleep for centuries
and done nothing in “Gods own house”
For fun every day I buy
an statue of a God as a gift
For my wishful friends
mahnaz Badihian