“GLIMPSES
OF ETERNITY ETCHED IN STONE”
---------AJANTA
AND ELLORA-------
Hard
and unyielding rock, molded with such sheer grace.
Timeless
yet beauteous images carved on the rock face.
Bedecked,
with frills, etched ornaments silk, and lace.
Cave
after cave, inspiring awe and wander.
In
a line, one, after the other, the next, better than the other.
What
was the magnificent inspiration, to create beauty, so rare?
Caves
and viharas, with sculptures and paintings, mesmerizing.
Unparalleled
skill and techniques on display, tantalizing.
Ruins!
Yes but taunting the demons of time and their brutal ravaging.
Exquisite
themes, of the Master’s Enlightenment.
Immense grace,
contentment and fearlessness, arising out of attainment.
The cosmic fragrance,
of this mighty flowering, stilling all argument.
All chiseled in cold
stone and, yet so throbbing and vibrant.
Centuries and colossal quantities of grime, failing
to dim the ecstasy and delight.
Eons old and yet so current, clear but somehow
confounding is their sight.
The puzzles inherent in the cycle of life, painful
but fulfilling too.
Agonizing without the wisdom, of the One present in
the two.
Uncertainty and death, powerful youth, so
effervescent, understood by so few.
Ananda and his swooning bride, depicted with the
Buddha and his begging bowl.
Reclining in Samadhi, with Ananda tears streaming,
finally peeping into his soul.
Searching for what he had seen in his Master serving
in the attendant’s role.
Majestic, and out of this material world.
Are the caves of Ajanta with many a story untold?
In this saga of apparent creation and destruction,
which with time does unfold?
---------------WG CDR PSIS
PAUL-------------------------
