Do not build much, for I intend to have you in ruins.
- Rumi 

I'm yours, O Vishwamitra, smitten by
your soulful intensity. You will pray, not
to Lord Shiva—but to me, your goddess.
When you pray, I shall sing,
and when you assume yogic
postures of meditation, I shall dance
with sensuous Salome's abandonment.
With my fair hands I'll string frangipani, jasmine
and rose together, add a whiff of my scent and
place it around your neck.
As you murmur to Lord Shiva fervently,
I'll whisper my name in your ears.
Soon, your skin will want my breath,
I will have seduced you.
Then you'll murmur 'Menaka' huskily,
use my lustrous black hair
for rosary!
Don't you dare build
spiritual kingdoms, noble sage,
for, I shall have you in ruins!

Author’s note: Menaka and Vishwamitra are characters in a popular Hindu myth. The sage Vishwamitra's austere 
penances to Lord Shiva were so great that Indra, the King of Heaven, feared for his throne. He summoned Menaka, 
the best dancer from his court of heavenly nymphs (or apsaras) to break Vishwamitra's tapasya or meditation. 
With devotion to match Vishwamitra's meditation, Menaka sang, danced and enticed until the love-lorn sage 
succumbed to her charms and married her.

© 2005 by Neha Malhotra. All rights reserved.