Where I Stand

  The tree of Knowledge Had my name carved in it's side From the first day I was born; Before I could decide.  The great willow's coils Entwined and snared my dry mind And preached my 'American' name, My aspiring height  Defying gods and science.  But I see Shiva through my eyes.  I have become death  In the willow's slow progress, Setting my hopes ablaze and  My memories alight, the final revenge Of my grandfather's dream and  My dead father's might-  The tree of life Owns the homeward strands  Somewhere within my weary limbs, Too young to grow And already forced to feel Anything Except hopelessly alone...    It was never me who chose  In absence of a mother To know and never grow  Towards Brahma, I never got to take cover below The grove of a lover's tracks Back  To my homelands,  In my dreams,  Where I stand.  I was pulled from that world  Long ago By latex hands.