DAY 35: SACHIA MATA


Sand in the air.
A battered white Ambassador
drove through scrub
past gabbling cranes.

The driver pulled over.
With a steady stream of pilgrims.
we took flight
after flight of exterior stairs

passing ornate archways
festooned with marigolds.
Beneath each carved gate
families posed for snapshots.

At the top: smoke curling
toward a ceiling fragmented
with mirrors, a smudge of saffron
on every forehead...

What will we find
at the top of this ascent
after we pass through
the Omer's 49 gates?

Today is the 35th day of the Omer, making five weeks of the Omer.

When I thought about going through the "gates" of these 49 days, I remembered an impromptu visit to the temple of Sachia Mata in the town of Osian many years ago. I wrote about that visit for Zeek -- There and Back Again: A JuBu's Passage to India.