Bruce celebrates the beauty of Ganges, in Benares (Varanasi), in his two poems here. In the first poem, he is speechless by the magnificence of the river as mother. In the second poem, an ancient oarsman reveals the many mysteries. While temples rise and fall, Ganges flows on.

Ganges Satori

ere is so much beauty here
My eyes cannot absorb
Nor tongue describe
The Ganges at Benares
Mother calling to her sidlings
Chiding
Come along now
Get in step with Mother Ganges.

Oarsman

Creaking oarlocks take us out
Into the pale fog mist
This holy river
Ganges
Ancient oarsman rowing
Slowly . . . without effort
Drifting with the current
Muddy vein of life
Unending
Mother of the world. 
Great cities come and go along her shore
He tells me
Mighty temples rise up over centuries
Adoring God
Then fall to earth 
Forsaken by him
As this water
Passes by
Forever.

Picture design Anumita Roy

Bruce Louis Dodson

Bruce Louis Dodson is an American expat living in Borlänge, Sweden, where he writes fiction and poetry. Some of his most recent work has appeared in: Foreign & Far Away – Writers Abroad Anthology, Sleeping Cat Books – Trip of a Lifetime Anthology, Northern Liberties Review, Pirene’s Fountain, Tic Toc, and Storm Cycle Anthologies - Kind of a Hurricane Press, Vine Leaves, and Cordite Poetry Review.

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