THESE ASHES

What we have lost we will again find new

Sorrow is the nourishment to make love bloom

In the fires, these souls will return soon

These ashes, a new India will rise.

Forget the words of criticism; and what are called lies

Look to the words of the Gita to find all the love, peace, and purity 

Understanding is lost in the minds of those who can't see the sunrise

As Maata Ji cries, her tears purify the waters of the Ganges

We enter another time of colonization of our souls' new freedom we hold

These ashes, a new India will rise.

Look to the flag safron of courage, the white of purity, the green of fertility.  

As the Dharma Chakra walks these auspicious lands

Love is in the purifying fires of the cremations.

The soul released in the smoke forming a new nation

The ashes are the mortar to form the base for the flag can fly high  

These ashes a new India will rise

A new life, a new determination for the mind

Peace, Love, and Purity again we will find.

©Copyright Thomas J. Dooley

Notes: 

 

DALITS

What is it in me that makes your perception of me

Why is including me just a means of excluding me

Is it I am not worthy of God's kiss because of this?

*Dalits is how I feel buried under these feeling

I dream of peace, love, and purity

But no one sees that in me

The list of my faults are long

I check the long list to try to change them all

But it is you that I wronged as my list goes on

Dalits is how I feel buried in the silence of unforgiven 

But asking forgiveness is just a sin

But this is how I know my place just to fit in

No matter where I place my shoes, no matter where I sit

I look inside for my own forgiveness, but how do I do this

When anyone sees my struggles, they are pushed back on me

Dalits is how I feel buried under the sweepings of leftover life.

Living in the night always wrong, never right

Proudly claiming the last place inline

No matter what I do, it is never good enough

When done with so much care and love

Alone I hear the father's wisdom as the forgotten son.

Dalits is how I feel buried under blocks of guilt.

Used to build a wall of silence shut off from the guidance

The respect I give the respect I receive is like tasteless *sabjiyaan 

©Copyright Thomas J. Dooley 2021

*Dalits the lost caste in Indian culture

*Hindi for vegetables 

NOTES:

 

 

 

EXILED TO SILENCE

These feelings I feel are like an attack

Excluded from living life wondering what I lack

What do I say when I am always told I am to blame

Exiled to silence in search of some kindness

As my mind is lost to the wilderness

Where is there any kind of friends

Hearing the call with no voices

On a path with no choices

To a destination that is of my own creation

Exiled to silence in search of some forgiveness

Feeling the blame for every mess

Where is the end to all this mental stress

Alone in this silence, why am I so different?

Living in mental shame hiding is no longer a game

It is a means to avoid negative criticism 

Exiled to silence in search of some peace

In the kings garden, I nap in the swing

To feel my mind relax so free

I dream of India's night sky with a moon so bright

Were Prakashmani reflection can be seen

That is where I wish I could be

©Copyright Thomas J Dooley 2021

NOTES: 

  

DIWALI

Never seen the night so bright
Even inside when feeling soul the light
This is the time to change from wrong to right

Where is the party when it is Diwali
Music and dancing when it is Diwali
Celebrating a new day when it is Diwali

From the temple to home knowledge in the light is what we all know
I am soul, you are soul, intellectual cleaning will make us free
Remove all the webs and dust know that it is the love we can trust

So much food when it is Diwali

Light triumphs of the night when it is Diwali

Celebrating a new life when it is Diwali

Goddess Lakshmi comes and dances with me

She got all the wealth and prosperity it is much more than charity

Clearing the way for respect and dignity

Light the lamps when it is Diwali

Felling the peaceful mood when it is Diwali

Celebrating a new me when it is Diwali

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

MORNING OVER AHMEDABAD

The sun pokes it's face
Through the gray haze
From the rough top
I sit in my own peace

Morning over Ahmedabad
Above the sandalwood trees
The feeling that is only found in dreams

The baritone call of a waking bull
The buzz of motor cycle passing by
In the market debates of the price of dates
The clinking of the spoon stirring the mornings chi

Morning over Ahmedabad
It is much more than a place
It is feeling that is beyond meaning

Many smells masked by burning trash
A pail of soapy water smacks on the street bellow
The thin lines of smoke from burning incense
In this experience time does not exist

Morning over Ahmebad
No other place like this

 © Copyright Thomas Dooley 2017

JASMINE AND INCENSE

Sitting inside my silent mind to find what is inside
Close my eyes for deep visions to feel peace without permission
I am more than skin and bones I am a soul

Jasmine and incense fill the aura of the room
A sitar sets the mood as the sister plays the flute

Dreams of experiences in a land far from me
In a place, I have never known but when I go it feels like home
When there at me every one stair every one wants a photo with *gora vyakti

Jasmine and incense fill the aura of the room
A sitar sets the mood as the sister plays the flute

The words of wisdom filled with peace and love
From GOD is where it comes from
My mind wanders into drowsy thought

Jasmine and incense fill the aura of the room
A sitar sets the mood as the sister plays the flute

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2016

*In Hinglish, a gora is an informal word for a White or fair-skinned man