(I refer, here, to the Hindu concept of maya as something like illusion. I am not Hindu, and I might not understand the concept correctly. But it serves to express something that seems true to me.)
Maya’s myths, like milfoil
Catch at my ankle
If I thrash, they’ll wrap me tighter
Tempting me to spend my power
Till I sink
But it’s water that I float on
And it’s here, and it will hold me
I can glide along here softly
Let the milfoil drag behind
And as the water deepens
They will finally cease to reach
Up to my world, and I’ll swim free
For now, some say “swim gentle
Think of its fronds as caressing you
A tender tickle, nothing to alarm”
Some say “swim with scissors,
Cut them off, deep as you can.”
Some say “just add water
Floods and floods will do
To drown out tugs of maya
And carry you.”
©Wendy Mulhern
September 27, 2011