Mercy is a poem – ੴ

ੴ ਸਤਿਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥ ਜਪੁ ॥ ਆਦਿਸਚੁ ਜੁਗਾਦਿਸਚੁ ਹੈਭੀਸਚੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਹੋਸੀਭੀਸਚੁ॥੧॥

Ik Onkar Satnam Karta Purakh Nirbhao Nirvair Akaal Moorat Ajooni Saibhang Gurprasad ॥ Jap ॥ Aadh sach Jugaadh sach Hai bhee sach Nanak hosee bhee sach ॥1॥

Mool Mantra – first composition in the Guru Granth Saheb, repeated over a 100 times through the text of the holy book of the Sikhs

………………………………………………………………………………………………

I dedicate this to the sound of a prayer I have heard through out my growing years – not in a forced prayer time way but in a subtle background music way.

Mercy is a poet

patient with the need for practice

keeping music afloat as we learn to absorb

syllable by syllable

discovering faith in every nuance of it’s sound

 

Mercy is a poem

unfolding itself into an extraordinariness

gaining momentum and fortitude

sensing space, creating largeness

within and without

 

Mercy is a poet

inhaling admiration

exhaling adoration

inhaling shame

exhaling strength

inhaling solitude

exhaling participation

 

Mercy is a poem

my grandma muttered in submission every night

the same mantra became gratitude when hummed by my mother

and became a war cry when chanted aloud by my father

remained ever my hopeful guide

 

Mercy is a poet

that inscribed it’s words into the corners of my children’s existence

nudging into them at corners, resonating them to their roots

 

Mercy is a poem

that has a hum, lingering like a silent whisper

on the tip of my tongue

affirmations thawing themselves into my heart

 bathing me with relevance

sieving the melody from the noise

Ik Onkar Satnam

 

 

NaPoWriMo 2018

base your poem on a sound you have heard

lyric, prayer, phrases, heard aloud over years