Songs of the Ganga

I

I am Ganga

Snow from the mountains

The keeper of water

I am the plains

I am the foothills

I carry the wishes of my streams

To the sea

I am both man and woman

I am paper boats for children

I am habits for fishermen

I am a cloud for shaven monks

I reflect all movement

I am the bridge

I am the fort and the archer

Taking aim

I am the great dissolver of men

I give life and I take it back

II

I go out into the world

I am the world

I am nations, cities, people

I am the pages of an unbound book

My room is the air around me

I am dressed in water

I am naked as water

I am clarity

A friend comes along

Offers me a flag

And says a government has fallen

I’m going to catch rain, I say

And spread out a net

I am poison

III

Billy goats

Come down from the mountain

Without finding solitude

Camels return from the desert

I make two lines in the sand

And say they are unbreakable walls

I make the four directions one

I know the secret of walking

I am the death of fire

IV

From smoke I learn disappearance

From the ocean unprejudice

From birds

How to find a rest house

In the storm

From the leopard

How to cover the sun

With spots

In summer I tend watermelons

And in flood I stay

Near the postman’s house

I am a beggar

I am a clown

And I am shadowless