In the Ashram Courtyard - 2

Solemn men - and simply clad

In flowing dhotis silently

Across the courtyard, fragrance-filled,

Move with grave intensity.

Fierce-browed or smiling, they see beyond

The temporal to timeless things

Through aeskesis and austerity

Imbue the peace that godhead brings.

Men like us yet not like us

Who view a world that hardly we

In sudden moments of illumined sight

Or psychic opening could see.

Unmoved by storms of violence

Unswayed by passion's gusts, at ease

They stand aloof from sorrow and sin

Ever tugging at our sleeves.

We watch as they walk in wisdom's steps

Unwounded through our wounded lives,

Uncaring of the gifts they bring,

Unknown to us their sacrifice.

Now across the weathered stone

Their feet have trod for countless years,

They kneel and for the world atone

And through them falsehood disappears.