Loony Saint
[On the vandalisation of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban...] Seeing the Buddha statue plundered The loony saint danced. ' Sever his head Let smile on his fallen face fly away – eyebrow, chin be blown, Let lovely visage turn ugly, the eye turn blind who’s it – the one bound in physical form, break free. Break that wall, which Forbids us from light and air Can it make the bedrock of some water source Find out; (No, not for a shrine!) The stone which stole our sky from us Is not to be hailed as Guru. The many bits of the statue, Make them the path you tread on Annihilate, humiliate May the veiled Guru blossom at once. - S Manjunath [ Translated by Deepa Ganesh] From Srinigannda: Contemporary Kannada Writings edited by Vivek Shanbhag