Prayer to a Nomad

Prayer to a Nomad

O Nomad,

Look at my hand,

cramped with the burden of banal routine

callused with the hardness of hustle culture

crushed by the demands of utilitarian lovers

scalded with the blazes of unreal expectations,

it has forgotten

how to touch,

how to sweat,

how to caress,

how to grow nails.

Where the breath comes from and goes to

where the cigar smoke disappears to

where the plant's arms point towards

where the planets dance on steroids

where the eagles build their Aeries

where the NaCl quench the yearning

where new galaxies erupt into existence

where ancient fossils lie in quiescence

where the command "Be!" reverberates

where the Shiva sees and annihilates

there,

O Nomad,

there lies the balm to my injuries

there resounds the psalm to my grievings

there grows the Aloe Vera for my crevices

the magic touch of healing stays there.

Will you,

O Nomad,

take my cramped, callused, crushed, scalded hand

and take me there?

(The 'where' part has a feel of something which is either impossible or at least difficult to be touched by our current lifestyle which crushes, calluses, scalds the hand of an individual