King Trishanku

His voice raised, with the right hand And a proud, angry face to the sky, The sage chanted mastered hymns aloud; His strange mission was to send King Satyavrata into the abode high; The latter was under a cloud of sigh, That his soul 's sole desire was to reach The Heaven with his body sans breach Ample ill-will and contempt hard, Was flung at the King's desire, dear Vasishtha his lineage preceptor - seer Who did loudly disregard and discard The feat as unruly, unholy and barred; Since the sordid evil- soaked, sinful corpse Was condign, and intrusion a profane fuss; The king was advised - until he aged, to retard. His coaxing appeal met with vile disdain ; When the Seer's sons, besides turning down The plea, uttered curses with a frown: That he, the metamorphosed age attain, Go dethroned - void of the royal land; Be crippled, senile and ugly beforehand; And that all his life may end up in vain! So it befell, and destitute became the king, With reinforced passion and retained zeal; Before the seer Vishwamitra he did kneel, Pouring out his misfortune and sad feeling; The sage, an achiever and a master great, Being a rebel -ascetic strong, on the whole Promised him Heaven- with body and the soul; With incantations and offers sent him up straight The Deities felt their abode shake With his entry; and the Ruler of Heaven Wrathful, threw out the intruder even; The indignant sage put them at stake: He stopped the king from falling down; Instantly he created a new heaven, dual In the skies, superseding - Limbo or Sheol Stars, twinklers alike and a new crown The sage was now appealed to stop; Yet he insisted on retaining the domain, Glamorous and new, with the fallen king lain Upside down beneath the heaven atop; Truly the ascetic sage proved his mettle And kept his promise; yet is the quest Futile, absurd, and instance the best, Of crazy pursuits and dogmata turn brittle The soul empowered with ascetic penance May defy even the cosmic structure and form But breach of the set Code or norm Created a topsy- turvy realm of decadence; If not backed with reason and rationale A trifle crazy task needs no big power, Nothing inane ever gains the infinite cover; Even a void paragon is deemed to fail All inordinate acts of pride and vanity, Despite being backed by prowess and might, Reach though the summit, of great height, Precipitate worthlessly with sunken sanity.