ELEPHANTA

To spend your whole life
carving one plane
of Shiva’s face,
to shape stone
in the dark,
leaving no signature
but your passion
to make godhead
manifest,
this these monks knew—
and we have lost.

 

Go into the cave
of yourself and see
if you can touch
the Braille of your being—
a pinch of dust thrown
in eternity’s eye
which does not even
blink.