Saturday, July 12, 2025

from here to go-dhuli

our words tear paths
as if we are oracles
our touch gathers
courage as though 
there's no law for it 

mosquitoes now follow us home 
knocking on our window panes
like tiny trickster castaway birds
who are also sorrowful orphans 

it is yet a quiet sky
as the clouds go by 
in the long intimacy
of anguish, a golden
go-dhuli dust blooms

my mother has promised us love
and it is in this clearing: quiet as--
wary as-- gentle as-- worn as-- cattle
waiting and gentling into another time
_____________________________
Note: Go-dhuli, literally "dust of cows" in Sanskrit, the golden hour of sunset when cattle return home; it is considered to be a beautiful and auspicious time and is a nostalgic trope. Cows are revered as archetypal mothers (Go-matha) in Hindu-Indian culture. (I mean, that's where "holy cow" as an expression probably came from!?) Also, my mom and I have a very silly, longstanding act where we play cow and calf.
____________________________
Pic: Nu's photo of Chelli, Huck, Max, and me reading in the afternoon. (Or Chelli and I are trying to anyway.)

10 comments:

Jeanie said...

This is so very lovely. And a beautiful image with these words. Thanks for the explanation.

StephLove said...

I never realized that about "holy cow" but it makes perfect sense.

Gillian said...

Nice.

Nicole said...

This is so touching, Maya!

Nance said...

The last two stanzas of this are so lovely. The mood and word choice perfectly create the image: I can see that softened, golden light and the patient cattle portraying the steadfast and solid love.

The word "tear" feels jarring to me in the first line, compared to the rest of the imagery and mood of the poem. Am I missing something?

maya said...

Thanks, Jeanie <3

maya said...

I always joke about it... should probably look it up!

maya said...

Thanks!

maya said...

I'm so happy it spoke to you, Nicole <3

maya said...

Thank you, Nance. First 24 hours of this draft, so I still don't have the distance to see, and am grateful for your comments.

I liked "tear" for its disruptiveness (as in ripping but perhaps also weeping--both of which characterize this relationship despite the contrasting bovine steadiness of love at the heart of it).

And OMG, Nance! As I wrote "bovine," I remembered how much YOU LOVE COWS!

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