Gedicht

Sudesh Mishra

Side by side

Confessions of a Would-Be Brahmin

O Shiva    O Parvati    O Durga 
I have sinned.
I have used my right hand to explore cracks
Other than that of sculptures.
I have picked my nose with cow-eaters
Breaking Manu’s Ram-knows which law.
I have smoked ganja with angrez mlechhas
Envying them, all the while, their pigment.
(You see, I even dispute 
Your affidavit that they are albinos.)
On the side, I have bedded a washerwoman;
Pissed in the Ganges when no one was looking;
And for the edification of the Hindu Society of Australia
Recited the Ramayan with (they later said)
Beer on my breath.

O Shiva    O Parvati    O Durga 
Though I have crossed the kala pani
And lost caste
Forgive me my trespass.

O Shiva    O Parvati    O Durga 
You’d be pleased to know
Some things never change
The left hand still cleans my arse.

Sudesh Mishra

(Fiji, 1962)

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Gedichten van Sudesh Mishra

Confessions of a Would-Be Brahmin

O Shiva    O Parvati    O Durga 
I have sinned.
I have used my right hand to explore cracks
Other than that of sculptures.
I have picked my nose with cow-eaters
Breaking Manu’s Ram-knows which law.
I have smoked ganja with angrez mlechhas
Envying them, all the while, their pigment.
(You see, I even dispute 
Your affidavit that they are albinos.)
On the side, I have bedded a washerwoman;
Pissed in the Ganges when no one was looking;
And for the edification of the Hindu Society of Australia
Recited the Ramayan with (they later said)
Beer on my breath.

O Shiva    O Parvati    O Durga 
Though I have crossed the kala pani
And lost caste
Forgive me my trespass.

O Shiva    O Parvati    O Durga 
You’d be pleased to know
Some things never change
The left hand still cleans my arse.