The Saga of the Bodhi Tree

Bodhi Tree

heart leaf

ancient truth

For seven long weeks the Buddha sits under my cool, dark shade. He meditates in this pool

of green light. Beneath me he becomes the Enlightened One. My heart-shaped leaves are

holy hieroglyphics, green messages of love to an embattled world. I look down on the

crowds of pilgrims. The first light of day shines on praying hands, brushed now by sunlight.

Ashoka’s Queen, jealous of my power, is plotting against me. She curses me with cruel

thorns; snake-like they entangle and suffocate my branches. I persevere and survive. On the

eighth day of December, I bless the crowds who offer milk, water, food. I see them from my

topmost branches, first tiny ants, then small, moving figures, now devotees bearing gifts.

Night is closing in. Look, dusk shrouds my highest boughs. I rejoice to see a thousand lamps

around my trunk. As I look down, see, myriad pin-pricks of light in the darkness.

Candles burning

in the vast darkness

yet light prevails

Sarah Das Gupta

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Sarah Das Gupta is a poet from Cambridge UK who has taught English in India, Tanzania and UK. She started writing aged 80, after a disabling accident. Her work has been published in over 25 countries in magazines and anthologies. She has been nominated for Best of the Net, The Pushcart and a Dwarf Star.