The anger of the riverfront teeming with salesmen
subsided in the rocking of the boat
Here, salesmen were counting money
Here, passengers were getting their money’s worth
Here, I wanted a connection with the One
Didn’t everyone want that in their own way?
For them, God expressed itself through
the money for their next meal
the ritual of circling the God’s island
For me, the calmness of the river carrying us
But for the first time, I saw myself in them
like I was Pessoa creating heteronyms on the river
A boatman feeling the river’s current as if it were his thoughts
he does not pray, he rows
and the rowing is the prayer
his hands do not tremble at the name of God
they tremble only when the boat hits the rocks
A small girl bending to feel the river’s current
And her father holding her so she doesn’t fall
But smiling and letting her do it
For them, this is the connection with divinity
that they feel through the river
The river spoke of its birth from the locks of Shiva’s hair
It recounted giving birth and taking lives
It swallowed the poison of humankind without complaint
It showed its last bout of anger in a broken home near its end
It reflected my face in the passengers looking into it
I wanted the One
and the river handed me back many faces
and each face was the current
and the current asked nothing
and gave everything
I stepped back onto the angry ghat teeming with salesmen
The noise returned
The selling returned
I bought a small clay lamp from a child
lit it and set it on the river with a prayer
the river knew what I meant
NaPoWriMo is beginning and my excitement cannot be contained. I attempted the early bird prompt which goes like this –
Start by reading Katie Naughton’s poem, “Debt Ritual: Oysters.” Now, write your own poem in which you refer to a specific writer or artist (or work of literature/art) and make a declarative statement about want or desire. Set the poem in a particular, people-filled place, like a restaurant, bus station, museum, school, etc.
Source – https://www.napowrimo.net/get-set-4/
Smoke words every day. 
4 responses to “[565] Pilgrimage on The River”
This is a deeply moving poem—lyrical, spiritual, and remarkably grounded in the sensory world of the riverbank. What strikes me most is how you weave together the sacred and the everyday: the salesmen counting money, the child with the clay lamp, the father steadying his daughter. The turn from wanting “the One” to receiving “many faces” is profound. Instead of a single, silent divinity, the river gives you multiplicity—and in that multiplicity, grace. The image of the boatman whose rowing is the prayer is especially beautiful; it honors action as devotion, not escape from the world but immersion in it. And the ending is perfect—returning to the noise, buying the lamp, setting it on the water. The river “knew what I meant” because the poem has already shown the river as witness, carrier, and mirror. This feels like a meditation that earned its stillness. Thank you for sharing it.🤝
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a very moving poem ..🫶
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A beautiful one.. Rahul!!!✨
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You hold together myth, ordinary life, and inner reflection with a calm hand, steering us along the sacred river, along with your many selves (our shared humanity). Nicely written Rahul 👏
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