A Man of the Cloth
A thin, frail man of the cloth
who went to England to study law at the age of 19
It was there that he was inspired by
Henry David Thoreau’s ‘Civil Disobedience’
On Jan. 30, 1948 at 5:12 in the evening
as he walked to a prayer meeting
Nathuram Vanayak Godge,
a young Hindu who opposed his views
approached him and bowed
A young girl in the group said
“Brother, Bapu is already late”
He pushed her aside and shot him...
three times in the chest
with a Beretta semi-automatic pistol
His last words were “Rama, Rama”
meaning to him ‘The same God’
Rama is derived from the Hebrew word ‘womb’
also meaning mercy and compassion
which is why it is said that he forgave his killer
before he died…
The name Mahatma means ‘great soul’
Just as Gandhi was inspired by Thoreau
Martin Luther King was in turn inspired by Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi. A thin, frail man of the cloth
who shook the world to its very foundations
And the battle rages on...
***Dedicated to the people of the country of Bangladesh, who have suffered yet another great tragedy...One of many in their very short history. Gandhi, by the way, strongly opposed the division of the two countries when they won independence...The title of this poem of course does not mean that Gandhi was Catholic or any other Christian religion. Gandhi practiced Hinduism, yet he was a true 'man of the cloth'...wearing only homemade loincloths and sandals
For Cyndi’s contest
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