For Chali

Mother of Bliss and Sweetness

She watches them sleep in the warm Indian night.

Aware of ancient memories she dreams

And sometimes holds their bodies close to hers

Recalling the mystical birth that flowed in streams

Of joyous agony that brought them forth

And wonders at the light in new-born things,

The infant grip that fiercely holds to life

And the marvel-signs of conscious awakenings.

These angelic lives upon her breast her life,

Her love encompassing her children grows

To vast dimensions, matriarch of space,

Parent of divinity she flows

Towards all sacred forms and would embrace

The worlds within and heavens still unknown,

All human forms her countenance enfolds.

By these sweet souls her spirit vast has grown.

She nuzzles them and in their bodies' warmth

Luxuriates, in the fragrance of fresh-washed hair,

The silky smoothness of their butter-brown skin,

Mother of bliss and sweetness beyond compare.