TAGORE

A Bengali poet,
Tagore,
is imprisoned
inside all of us
in the trappings
of the mind of
a Bengali bureaucrat,
Abdul-Jabbar Khan,
calculating
the rules of reason,
clinching
the Book of Fundamentals
to our bosom,
defending every word
against the
rebellions of a free spirit.

In that Book,
jealously,
territoriality,
pettiness,
anger,
and violence
are enshrined,
each in its own
Article of Faith
embossed
into a
universal moral category
against acts of
creativity,
imagination,
generosity,
love,
and compassion.

Let Tagore out.

Majid Tehranian
Honolulu, Hawaii
July 7, 1995