Text of "Apple Bhagan of Mahadevi-Akka," from The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion

Honored to have my poem, " Apple Bhagan of Mahadevi-Akka," in the Spring issue of  the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion.  Mahadevi-Akka was a 12th century Dravidian poet.

 

APPLE BHAGAN¹  OF MAHADEVI-AKKA

When death comes, it will be diamond white.

The dark months before, a falling, burying brown.

All is, after all, a trap of activity,

before

the bursting scent, naked, of apples gone ground.

When death comes, it will be a sister’s hand,

as callused as ground, the slapping of time.

It is, after all, the root of activity,

so like

the dusted brown bottles of sour apple wine.

When death comes, it will be clear and bright.

All actions, after all, from ignorance arise,

The cycle of rebirth will dance with Lord Siva

becoming

as babies like apples, born breathing, born red.

.

 1.      A bhaghan (also bhajan) is a devotion or prayer.