To step into the literature
of Hindu mythology
that tangle of inextricable jungle

is to wander aimlessly
absent the light of day
and sense of reason and direction

in search of ancient truths
personified in the deity of Kali
her divine form

a misguided hideous she ogre worshipped
in ferocious phallic rites.
We kneel before thee

o great mother of us all
rejoice in thy universal woman self
both womb and tomb

the beginning and the end
birth anticipating death.
We praise thy name in song

rest our head in thy luxuriant garden
kiss the very depths
of thy life restoring yoni.

Save us o mighty Kali
from the artless wisdom
of our age.


©GW2000

"Kali stood for Existence," wrote Barbara G. Walker, "which meant Becoming because all her world was an eternal living flux from which all things rose and disappeared again, in endless cycles." Kali was the Hindu Triple Goddess of creation, preservation, and destruction. Ultimatedly the Kali-Tara evolved into the Latin Terra: Mother Earth.