Poetry: On a monk’s birthday By Ayan Adak e-mail: [email protected] Ayan Adak It’s been ages since, you showed us the way That work is worship, prayer and play That there is no religion, there is no God, Save for the shining star within our abode You revived the East, you overran the West The world conquered, though it was not your quest Even today, Belur, Almora, Chicago recalls The wisdom spread as you broke the walls What saffron grace inspires us today, What sun there is to grace our day, Yet, what youths we are, that we complain and cry Your river flows, yet our souls are dry - The least we can: recall what you had to teach To arise, awake, till the goal we reach… Lines written on Swami Vivekanand’s birthday, 12 th January, 2023 A TO Z INDIA FEBRUARY 2023 PAGE 15