NATARAJA- SHIVA (LORD OF THE DANCE)
In homage to the sanskrit language (S). It appears in pre-Classical form as vedic sanskrit beginning with Rigveda being the oldest and most archaic stage preserved. This poem was influenced by the great Bengali poet Tagore, a close friend to Ghandi and psalmist who wrote such great classics as the love poem the Gitanjali..this is in honer to some of my friends over my rather sporadic existance over the years.

Far within a black forest,
deep into an Indian night
old sages lay setting incantations
against the great Vishnu
Lord of essence of all beings
master of and beyond
past, present and future,
creator and destroyer
now disguised as shiva,
a beautiful woman twirls and spins
into a formless trance
driven wild within the mystery of
a cosmic dance
and like a Goddess rising
from the ashes of a pyre
she pushed her body gracefully
through the heat of fire
lifting palms upward
from burning flames
stretching wide toward heaven
as if to claim
stars falling from an indigo sky
flickering brightly like fireflies
around her golden crown
Three came and fell into her charm
lurred by the sway from her fiery arms
they stopped to hear the beating drum
sounding chimes within the wind
and like three snakes shedding its skin
she wore it like a silken cloth
the dance continued undisturbed
they would not stop her in the dance
they could not stop the dance...

Shiva's dance is the source of all movement represented by the arch of flames. It is symbolic of the artist and creation The dance represents creation (symbolized by the drum), protection (by the "fear not" hand gesture), destruction (by the fire), embodiment (by the foot planted on the ground), and release (by the foot held aloft).The Nataraja is destruction and creation as he dances away the illusory world transforming it into power, love and enlightenment,