237th Chorus

“Ma mere, tu est la terre.”
What does that mean?
For one thing, Damema was the mother of Buddhas,
    in Ancient India and Modern Asia
    you put up a Virgin Mary very weird
    in your altars and ikons, Damema,
    with crowns of light coming out of her head
    and lotuses and incense sticks
    and big sad blue eyes inside Flowers.

People light perpetual candles to her name,
Wax in glass with wick, fire,
For 30 days the pale Mystic Face
Of Damema flickers in the ceiling corner
And the dogs bark outside.
       They get water from the moon,
       Send boys out of sight in baskets,
       Sleep in the streets of night,
       Playing flutes & having curbstone nightclubs
       And the curbstone put there by the British –
       They honor and beseech and pray to
                Damema.

To me Damema is like Virgin Mary,
Mother Maya of Siddhartha Buddha
Died at his childbirth,
Like all mothers should be,
Going to heaven on their impulse
   Pure and free and champion of birth.
           Damema the Milky Mother
           Damema the Secret Hero