Kali Ma

O Mother Kali, of thy praise I sing

The fearless and he fearful, a supplication thee I bring

The mantra of the great Ma, a thousand times a day

We recite thy name, o bloody Mother

For those wretched you would slay

In battle with demon forces, tearing bodies limb from limb

Collecting bones to wear as tokens kept as trinkets in lockets

Severed arms complete thy skirt, bedecked thou with fifty heads

A garland round thy waist, black-blue skin and reddish eyes

For black, flaming hair is freedom, men's blood for to taste

Shakti, force of nature and matter manifested in thy acts

As in the destruction of cities and armies, heads collected in sacks

Sufficient unto thyself thou art, alone and without equal

Every tale told of thee, o Kali, begets yet another sequel

In love and admiration, Kali Ma, do I sing of thy glory

Here humbly, in a flash of time, I beg to tell thy story

Invisible consciousness, thought and reflection
The eternal soul, traveling though time and space
Seeks its own cycle, without form sans the ability to manifest
How could consciousness become fully conscious?
In the heat of battle Kali unleashes her power and fury
Slaying thousands, dismembering demons and devils alike
All the forces sent against her are vanquished
Blinded by anger she exceeds her limits
Seeing the terrible carnage, Lord Shiva lies down
To suggest mercy and compassion
There he is, prostrate on his back
In the heat and fury of her rage
Kali accidentally doth she step upon the body of the god
Clutching sword, mace, ax and spear in each of her four hands
All the gods of the pantheon are shocked at her action
She herself astonished, as she was captured by her anger
Her tongue protrudes in the midst of her deeds
A sign of her uncontrollable impulse, diligence and effort
Unable is she to fathom her own ability, power and might
The face of a warrior for whom battle is pleasure

Shiva, Purusha, consciousness, goodness and mercy
Kali is Shakti, feminine energy, the force
Without which compassion and love would be useless
And succumb to the power of evil
Powerless to mankind would be
Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva
All rise from the goddess like mist from the ocean
She is the primordial being, giving rise to the primordial sound
Mother of the universe, architect of being, Om!
She is darkness, she was when the gods and all existence was not
The original darkness from which all sprang forth

Listen!
In the great book Mahabharata
Kali appears to the Pandava soldiers in their dreams
Promising to aid them in their fight
As the Sun rises, battle commences with defeat in sight
The Pandavas are with heavy losses
When the battle seems as lost
She appears, the goddess, slashing right and left with her weapons

Leaving bloodshed and gore in her wake
Nay, not one of the enemy survive that day
They lay in heaps upon the field
The slain are fortunate, for their ordeal is over
Those who are wounded call out for mercy
Kali slays them one by one, and drinks their blood
Her protruding tongue reddened with their life force
As their cries slowly fade

There were once some thieves who wished
To make amends for their lives of crime
And offered to Kali a sacrifice so as to ease their guilt
And start a clean life anew
But they set out upon their new path tainted with evil
For they came upon a lone Brahmin priest
Full of light and goodness
And they strangled him, thinking themselves clever
But justice is the domain of Kali
As the thieves prayed that she would receive their offering
She did appear before them in a rage, tongue protruding
Slaying the group and drinking their blood
Thus the Brahmin will be reborn to carry on his devotions
For tyranny must be resisted and punished

The stalwart goddess Durga set out to battle the terrible Raktabija
A mot terrible demon, the cause of much suffering
Mighty Durga recoiled nary from a fight
Ready to ride into the fray mountain upon her lion
She embraceth war and held no fear of this demon
In the midst of the battle did she wound the mighty Raktabija
With a slash of her curvy talwar
But to her dismay, every drop of the demon's blood
Did beget yet another reincarnation
Multiplying into hundreds then thousands of Raktabijas
Then a million, a billion, trillion and more
Durga then intoned the primordial sound, Om!
The call echoes across the heavens, though the universe
Kali appeared, grasping her skull topped staff
Her eyes deep and reddened, gaping tongue
Kali and Durga with her army attacked the forces of Raktabija
Many a breastplate, shield and helmet were pierced
None did offer protection 'gainst the powerful blows
Of Kali's weapons, nor Durga's talwar
Or the powerful shots of arrows from her bow
Every shaft finding its intended target
Sought she Kali the terrible Raktabija and slew him
Cutting off his head and in a gory feast
Did she proceed to eat his flesh
Her face was red from the blood and gore

An the Raktabija would rule the world no more!
What was left the vultures did finish upon the commencing of dawn
Plucking out eyes, ripping gullets
Pecking at the genitals of the stripped dead
So heavy would the birds become after their sumptuous feast
Flight became impossible for days after
Snakes and insects then assaulted he rotting corpses
Competing with maggots for the final bits
Until the bones would decay into dust and settled into the earth

Shiva maketh manifest the act of compassion
As Parvati dances upon the sky
Ganesh removes trouble and obstacles
While Lakhsmi bringeth riches nigh
Yet without the goddess to remind us of the blackness of the self
'Tis Kali Ma to praise and worship
For Kali Ma is our wealth
Om Kali Ma, from pure darkness did ye spring
And to darkness is our sure return
Until our cycles are finally over
And for eternal darkness and peace, we forever yearn

Ismail Butera, 2020