What have you come to admire?
says the cow
you guys and gals stand around
new to the farm
you say
ah, look at the horses
(memories of horse races
in the corners of your mind)
you look at the lambs
and you go soft and sweet;
"Oh, how cute," you say
(Cute my ***!
Not so cute when you put
the meat over the barbecue pit, is it?)
You aliens look at the trees in the distance
and the sky clear and endless
and you drool: "Oh, what freedom!"
and then you come near me
and you whisper to your child
"...see, see cow...
milk comes from cow..."
and you come closer
with your progeny
and I show
you imbeciles
my rear and ****
and watch out
if you come too near
I do ****
and I have two hind legs
and it's best you back off:
my **** is as pretty a picture
as any of yours;
have a look at my posterior
and **** off

when I was little
my dad and mom
they expected me
to turn out
just like them;
exactly
like dad and mom
and indeed I turned out to be
as my dad and mom

Oh when I went to school
I expected classmates
to be appropriately like me
but they turned out
unexpectedly, unreasonably
like what they’d be
Oh I was shocked
and asked my parents why
the world was so deviant
and, in their received wisdom, they said:
“It’s an imperfect world
out there
What can you expect
from impure persons?”

When I went to work
and met many strangers
I knew straightaway
why they were called strangers
For their ways were indeed strange
and instead of being like me
they each turned out
like they’d be…

Then I got married
and my wife
turned out like what
I’d expected her to be
exactly like me
and we brought up our children
to be like me
But when they grew up
I was shocked to find
they were like strangers
and I asked my wife
if indeed they were my children

And so I thought I’d go on a tour
and I went to England and America
and I went to Russia and China and India
and Down Under
and I crossed from East to West and North to South
and I went to Mexico and in disguise to many nations
and everywhere I was shocked to find
none were like me
And I was reminded of my dad’s words, my mom’s words:
“It’s an imperfect world
out there
What can you expect
from impure persons?”

And so I came home
and found my wife too had changed
and she was no longer like me
and I sat down in my lounge
older, wiser, sadder, well-traveled
and now all-knowing what I always knew :
“It’s an imperfect world
everywhere
What can you expect
from impure persons?”

I bring plenty and abundance;
I bring beauty and well-being
I bring that which is wholesome
and I bring that which is good for all of mankind
and I bring goodwill to all nations
and all peoples of the world

may all countries be at peace;
may all the people of the world be as one;
may all nations have plenty and be safe
may they have the wisdom to see what is sufficient
and what is needful and refrain from excess;
may each one wake up each day to a world of love;
may all of humanity set aside all dogma and past
and may they learn to see the new, the future
and be past all creed, beliefs and divisions;
and may they see with clarity
that they are as but children of one family

let there be peace
let there be plenty
let there be harmony
let there be love -
all days and all years
in this our world
that changes and moves all hours and ages

give my children
O most noble Sirs
a means to a life;
give them hope, Sirs
and let them smile

give my children
O most esteemed Sirs
a way to dignity and respect;
give the young and innocent
the will, a skill, and strength

with your wealth, Sirs
set up schools
that the poor may attend;
with your power
provide free books and an education

give my children
O most noble Sirs
a means to a life;
give them hope, Sirs
and let them smile

let there be libraries
Sirs, as
as I hear are in foreign shores;
let there be many in each city
where children and men and women
can read and borrow free

let there be
Children Welfare Groups, Sirs
that may feed and clothe and protect the weak;
and you that are so esteemed and revered
and always speaking of the next world -
teach the parents to understand this world
so that the body may have its dignity

let there be hope, Sirs
and give my children
a dream and ambition;
let my children
learn to love and feel;
let them know they are equal to any
and they too are of this nation

give my children
O most noble Sirs
a means to a life;
give them hope, Sirs
and let them smile

I walked past and I heard
you play the sitar, Kadambari;
and I waited at the side in the streets
as I heard the soothing tunes and the notes
and the playfulness and the pleas and eloquence
and the pain and the joys and the ecstasy
O I heard the coming to of each note and raga
and I heard each improvisation
and I stood at the gate, hidden behind the green vines
not allowed in, always the outsider
always left outside, marked by clear boundaries;
but I heard each turn and each leap and fall
and I saw you in all your beauty, Kadambari
I saw you in my mind as I stood outside  
and I heard each note
as you offered each note to Kama, the Love God
Kama with his bow and arrow of flowers;
and the jasmine plants around me bloomed
and the trees in the street and the vines over the wall
they all bloomed, as you played, O Kadambari -
and so did my being, so did my being open like the sunflower
so it did, as you, O Kadambari,
as you had your fingers on your sitar
as you made music

You want me to talk, Sir?
I’d relax and you can paint better, Sir?
Maybe, Sir…maybe, but what shall I say, Sir?
For I am not used to talking
to important people like you, Sir…
Why do you laugh, Sir?
It is true, I’m just a girl from the village, Sir
attending to Laxmi and Ganga –
those are our family cows, Sir;
and I milk them; and my father
and I bring the milk to the market
and to neighbors who can afford to pay for them…
We don’t carry them in these fancy pots Sir,
you make me pose with
but just earthen jars, Sir…
But this morning, Sir, my father said to me:
Come, Mina – you shall pose for a famous artist;
India has never seen such an artist
and he shall pay well
and perhaps with that I shall buy a third cow;
three neighbors owe us money
and will never return them in this life;
and the old woman in the sixth house has died
owing us money for these last four years…
You just have to stand there
before the artist in your cleanest sari
and use borrowed milk pots…
And that is what my father said, Sir…
I normally don’t dress in such clean clothes, Sir;
the saris I have are saris my mum used
but she died when I was little, Sir…
Sir? You want me to keep talking…but I am boring, Sir
and I talk simple words and I am sure you’ve heard…
Oh Sir, I’m more used to talking to cows
than important men, Sir…
All right Sir, I will tell you…I will tell you…
I do have dreams, Sir
and it is just the dream of all the
girls in my village:
I’d like new saris and jewels
and I’d like to be married
before the year ends;
Arun from the next village
always looks at me
in our town fairs
and Oh, would that he’d marry me
and we’d have a home and a farm and cows
and we’d have children
and we’d live our quiet lives
in our secluded village…
Sir, that is my dream…I have nothing more to say, Sir…
I hope you are done…
Or maybe you should talk, Sir…

they came to me with Big Books
they came with appeals and threats
but I said:
*Go, for
there is no philosophy,
no revelation
no dependence, no authority;
there are no terms
and one is free of all propositions;
there is none higher, none lower
and therefore all are same and even;
one does not slide to the past or tradition
and one does not idealize a future
and time is done and thought is observed;
there is no judgment here
no conditioning and beliefs
but one rests in what there is