The Stone Sanskrit Carved (Yoni)

Lyrics

[Intro]

[Verse 1]
In the workshop on Rue des Pierres, October 12th, 2017,
Kiki sits at the oak bench, eleven years old,
holding a basalt stone from the Madhya Pradesh quarry,
smooth as a river's whisper, six inches long.
The chisel, steel from Sheffield, 1892 stamp,
grips in small fingers, mallet of beechwood beside.
Yoni, the word in Devanagari script,
Sanskrit for womb, for source, for the goddess's gate.

[Chorus]
Carve it slow, the yoni stone,
from Khajuraho's shadow, 950 to 1050 CE,
where temples rose for Shakti's fire.
Gavin D. Flood wrote in 1996,
'An Introduction to Hinduism,' page 149:
The yoni is the source of all existence,
the gateway to life, the seat of the Goddess.

[Verse 2]
Candle flickers, beeswax from the apiary on Hill Street,
dried dates in a clay bowl from Delhi market, 1978.
Dust rises, mineral tang mixes with honeyed smoke,
cool air at 18 degrees Celsius through the cracked pane.
Unnamed women, priestesses of old,
carved these in village rites, forgotten names,
their chants lost to the gaps in temple scrolls.
But here, the stone hums faintly, like dawn's dew vibrating.

[Bridge]
Mrs. Patterson enters at 9 PM,
sees the oval basalt, the fresh engraving,
says, how lovely, her voice a quiet approval,
no flinch, just the nod of a schoolteacher's grace.

[Verse 3]
Yoni pairs with lingam, union of divine,
in rituals at sacred sites, fertility's emblem.
Pemba watches from the door, notes in his journal,
the child's hands steady as ancient artisans.
The mallet taps, chisel bites, script emerges,
source of all, the word made stone.

[Outro]
The yoni rests on the shelf, beside the dates,
waiting for the dawn's faint hum.