I thought I was in Heaven as I ambled past the chai café <br />And Mother India called “two rupees lady” <br />But the Ganga held my purpose <br />Sparkling blue, racing onwards to Benares <br />Where her cargoes of death <br />That once in human form breathed this perfect air <br />Turn the eddies to a shabby haze as whirlpools collect <br />New ash from shoreline pyres <br />And then I saw them <br />Sitting like silent sentinels upon the stony scree <br />All watching me <br />Their beady eyes glinting like half-lights in the summer sun <br />Vultures! <br />And in my fear I turned homewards <br />Longing to stay <br />But those terrifying birds had chased me away <br />Symbols of ugliness, cruelty, meanness, dominance, greed <br />All written in their crazed stares <br />And I thought on these dark vibrations <br />Aware that sometimes, just sometimes <br />The Vulture becomes the Human <br /> <br />Turn around <br />Remove your blinkered visions and your kaleidoscopic dreams <br />The predatory Vulture has little beauty <br />The Human in his selfishness <br />Well, you know how it is <br />Acid rain and ozone fissures <br />We dance with the Laws of Nature and turn the other cheek <br /> <br />I walked to the chai café and drank tea with Mother India<br /><br />Penny Hemans<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-day-in-rishikesh/
