The Library of Maps, #2

THE MAP OF THE COSMIC WORLD

At midnight,
The two young boys climbed boisterously into the closed Library.

At first, fearfully,
They explored shelf after shelf.
Then, more recklessly,
They opened and closed book after book,
Slamming them back onto the shelves.

Suddenly, however,
Their hands became careful.

Gently they took down the 18th-century Gujarati book,
And marveled
At the opaque watercolor image on its wooden cover.

They studied,
Transfixed,
A ceremoniously clad presence,
Who delicately clasped the circular shape of the Cosmic World.

In its center
Was the sacred tree
Perched on Mount Meru, held by a female figure.

From the mountain
Radiated out the continents of the world
With their oceans and rivers,
While above the circle
Were the eight heavenly realms,
And below,
The seven levels of hell.

The boys shivered,
Returning the book to the shelf slowly,
Their hands lingering on its cover.

That night each dreamed of climbing Mount Meru,
And swimming in the oceans of the Cosmic World.

Later in life,
One became mystical,
And the other desolate.

by Moira Roth
Written 3/21/01
[published in "On Maps and Mapping" issue, Performance Research 6, no. 2 (summer 2001)]