A flower blooms in monsoon rain. Photograph©Chulie de Silva
The flower says
Blessed am I
Blessed am I
Upon this earth…
The flower says
I was born from the dust
Kindly kindly
Let me forget it
Let me forget it
Let me forget.
Of dust inside me there is none
No dust at all inside me
The flower says.
The words are the first section of a song composed by Rabindranath Tagore for his dance drama Chandalika, the untouchable maid. The drama was modeled on an ancient Buddhist legend describing how Ananda, – Gautams Buddha’s disciple—asks for water from a girl belonging to an indigenous tribe.
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So simple, so elegant.
Great stuff! Guess you used available light for this exquisite photograph.
Doug
Yes, Doug, taken yesterday in Galle, as the morning rain was clearing but still a very cloudy wet day. Thanks for the kudos. Chulie
The poem is meaningful in the context of the drama. I cannot empathise with the philosphy, though, which I would re-phrase as “I was born from the dust – let me NOT forget it”. When the humble ‘vatu suddha’ flower (in your lovely photo) is placed before the Budhha, one medidates: ‘Just as this beautiful flower will fade away and die, so will my body follow the same path’. DUST TO DUST.