For the soul friend poet, Jayanta Mahapatra

Upon the sandy shore by the river,
an ancient Kerala temple stands
before which her throbbing body
dances in the memory of a
13 year old Bhadrakali.
Beside her; the undulating
bharatapuzha watches,
as primordial beats of
padayani thappu
consecrate her invisible
feet’s rhythms
to the heart of her pulsating earth
along the
Land’s distances.

No more eating fire,
Let it out.
Let it all out.

No more, says Kali.

In darkening rooms, where no one
Trusts a lover
Kali arrives as your tempestuous sanity
Not to invoke fear of this abyss.
On the contrary, she sits
on your chest
To initiate you
Into your rage,
Into this ritual of intimacy
With your salt.

Dance, dance, she says
as gushing warm tears
wash away your painted faces.
Dance, dance upon your collapsing foundations,
What you once called love and is no more.
Dance, dance to maimed langues, to mutilated
tongues, to severed bodies
Dance, dance to charred dreams
Die. Die to it. Die to it all.

Dance, dance, she says
upon the floor of bone filled ruins,
upon your death on these
white sand banks with
her flame drunken eyes calling forth
love to all
that was proclaimed
Demonic, condemned to exile.

To all that is still breathing.

Dance, dance, she says
As a fiery vortex
of your sound arises from the sacral
depths through your fluid heart
and arrives at the entrance of your
black lonely mouth,
upon your tongue that
talks in million voices,
to let out the sound of Truth, Satya.

Let it out, let it all out.
No more, says Kali.

In the sanctum sanctorum of this
unbridled state of your being,
Her form emerges from the darkness
In her eight ~ limbed sovereignty.

The missing person stands
In the integrity of her own lit mirror
With jasmine flowers growing in her eyes
Her teeth stained in blood with a smile
And her long flowing tresses
That terrify and is deeply kind.

Kali says, right here, right now.
you will be all right.
when you are alone.
You know this.

…

Sitara Leela is a poet, artist and storyteller living in the sanctuary of her home in Kochi, Kerala.