American River Review 2019 - Flipbook - Page 30
No One Act
Rishikesh Vilash
I pick lotuses late down by Saturn Lake.
When the moon hangs low over hilltops beaten
by hardened feet and, when the Orange Wake
has long lost its afterglow, over-trodden,
I pick lotuses late down by Saturn Lake.
The blemished ones I prefer to proffer
to Brahma, Buddha, and the Baha’u’llah.
And I don’t care one mite whether I pray
with pink, purple, yellow, or white. In fact,
a multicolored one I’d like, a May bouquet,
like Joseph’s coat on a rainy day, to abstract
human suffering for those blemishes sake:
that life is sacrifice and no one act—so,
I pick lotuses late down by Saturn Lake.
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American River Review