Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BENARES, by PERCY STICKNEY GRANT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BENARES, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I pray for the sad souls that pray
Last Line: And will flow with forgiveness forever.
Subject(s): India; Pilgrimages & Pilgrims


I pray for the sad souls that pray
By Ganges, the flower-strewn river,
Whose blue, gleaming waves wash away
The gifts and the sins of the giver.

As he dips himself thrice in the flood,
And drinks of it, laves in it, splashes,
Till his sins flow away like the mud
Which scours the bowl that he washes.

Through the dark palace gates of Gwalior
Throng pilgrims, their souls heavy laden;
Down, down the vast steps to the shore,
Move the elders, slim youth, jeweled maiden.

While naked bronze, pedestaled high,
Some prone or awhirl make their prayer:
Or wrapped in bright robes softly sigh
As at the broad river they stare.

Where all things are sacred save man
And woman, the meek burden-bearer;
Dream-weary and starved is life's span
And the tied shroud is burned with the wearer.

I pray that a life may appear,
Like our own born of man and of woman,
Revealing man's love for man here,
A love most divine because human:

To destroy the divisions of creed,
To frame of all people one nation,
To supply without grudging all need
And give birth to the God in creation.

I pray for the sad souls that pray
To Ganges the thrice-sacred river,
Which springs from the snows far away
And will flow with forgiveness forever.





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