Rajesh Joshi (India)

Down I Bow

Ere stepping across the door to go out
Down I bow for lacing my shoes
Down I bow on my plate of food
To bite and eat a piece of my Roti
Down I bow to pick up
My pen or a coin so suddenly slipped out of my pocket
I do bow down but not like a sycophant bard
Whose soul bows down before a person in power
As eyes bow down after being ashamed and insulted
Bow I down
Like eyes on words to read them
The myriad meanings of words and verbs of action
Remain beyond the language of power and subjection
I do bow down
Like a proverbial say
A folded knee always turns towards the belly
But the proverb above does not express only
The physical virtues and vices of the body
Proverbs always reside inside their meanings.

Translated by Ramesh Dave

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