Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol. 6

Ego

SUNKEN deep down I lie, with my ego

Yet you ask where's the ego?

But it is the ego that has been since my birth

the glory of glories!

It is the mounting plenty to the penniless:

The more you buy up, the more it multiplies…

I am, I am, I am !

The great Eagle in its home one with its Rider ...

One gulpful it takes in its yawning beak

and is again agape for yet another ­–

I am, I am, we are – each and everyone.

Whatever it is – universal or familial or communal ­–

It always conjugates: I am, Lam, We are, We are ...

However universal, familial or communal

It is I, I, I.

That will come one day, possess and fulfil – the Supreme Cause

In answer to the slow-stepping Old Time – the Raven's caws.

Gouri Dharmapal

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