Poems on Gandhi

Gandhi: Immersion Ceremony 2010

By Devarakshanam Govinden

Amid night-long chanting and prayers,
Fasting and bhajans,
You will make a solemn journey.

From the treasured vaults of memory,
To your beloved Sarvodaya,
You will inhale again its pressing air.

Chartered and caressed by tender hands,
You will drift
To the wide open seas.

As the early sun’s rays
Stream across the waters,
Connecting the mothering shores of

Africa with India,
You will mingle with
Water, air and sky.

Amidst the buffeting and billowing,
Your Spirit will be carried aloft
on the Wings of Truth.

And You will find again
innumerable resting places,
against tyranny and hate.

Your ashes,
sacred seeds of Soul Force,
will spout in the wilderness and on parched land.

And your Eternal Sutras
of Love and Justice
will urge again a reign of Hope and Peace.

Poem composed for the 62nd Commemoration of Gandhi’s Assassination and to mark the Immersion Ceremony, 29th / 30th January 2010, Durban, South Africa.

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