Terra Incognita

Intro and also probably maybe links within the poem pending.

Tejo mahalaya*

Had we but world enough and time
--Andrew Marvell



I asked you to build me a taj mahal
a monument of your service
and you said you'd try
but you were bound to lie.
There is no taj mahal

not really.


At least not one which shah jahan
loving his wife so dearly
more than his thousands of concubines
made her an edifice of time.

They have dated the doorway with c-14
and examined the annals and floor plans
and the findings confirm what we already know

the temple was built to shiva.


lord of the dance and lord of the flies
destroyer of all with his trident
closer and opener of always of doors
third face of the moon


And there was no shah jahan
not really. At least not the one
we've dreamed up in our minds.
And even had he not, as the chronicles reveal,
been a womanizing drunk and a fool and fop,
and a shameless sot with
a lot of the self-promoter

who removed the sacred lingam
to ordain a muslim tomb


he still could not have built that place
--although his name means world--
for young muntaz al zamani
(the one whose name means time)

for vishnu preserves what brahman creates
but the lonely fate of the incarnate
is to build for none but shiva.


So there was and there was no shah jahan
in the half-lives and half-lies of maya
thrice greatest snake oil salesman, thief
trickster of the himalayas

and so you served me well, my khan
we built just what I needed. this
quicksilver, crumbling half-baked myth,
this monolith

to shiva


in the mists of the moghuls of uttar pradesh
the furthest extremes of persia.



*Shiva's Shining House

Temp retro intro

I've not looked at this one in ages. Written c. 2006.

Inspired by what I read about the building but turns out it may have been Hindu nationalist propaganda, haven't looked into it, would be quite fitting if it is.

I suppose now I shall.

Made a couple of edits, one signficant
tbcd