O Shankara

Do you seek to know me O Shankara?
I am the very rock
on which I fall gently as snow
forming your cold footstool
I am those snakes you wear
As serpentine jewellery around you
I am your anklet
the rhythm you dance to
I am your very dance
that womb of stillness
from which all your movement is born
I am your body
The sweat which flows on you
from within the heat in you
I am your dreadlocks
damp with pure river water
skulking within
Seeking your leave
to flow into the ever waiting arms
of the Ocean whose waves form out
Your name
Om namah Shivaayah
I am born deathless
Yet
am Death more vital than Life
I am male, female and all in between
O Shiva!
You seek to know me
I am that choreographer
who designed each baby footstep
You try out on my bosom
I am your Shakthi
You seek me
but I am in you
My dancing Lord of Destruction
How will you contain the answer
to the question you ask in silence
As I respond to you with that dance?— Lakshmi Bayi