False Avatar

He spoke of Christ the Lord, and all the saints,

Revered the Buddha, a lover of Krishna too,

Dismissed as meaningless our weak complaints

United Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Jew.

He had the gift of tongues and eyes so bright

They burned like giant searchlights on the sea.

We gathered weekly sharing his delight,

The lonely seeker and the devotee.

He wove a net of wonder round our souls

Exhorting us to seek the God within,

Reminded us of oft forgotten goals,

He seemed divinely pure and without sin.

The young who seek are easily relieved

Of commonsense; desirous to embrace

Each silver word of gospel are deceived

By a silken tongue and a godlike face.

Falling from imagined heights we weep

As disillusion festers in our minds,

Foreboding is the sky, the mountain steep

And long and difficult the journey winds.