Of What Worth?
Of what worth is the most noble of kings
Granting favor the humble peasant
Dancing upon such stone unpleasant
Without love?
Of what worth is a mother’s song
Ached with the pains of bearing
Full of flavor worth savoring
Without love?
Of what worth is a righteous deed
Performed by the unsung hero
Caught up by crowd-cheer zero
Without love?
Of what worth is a zealous prayer
Sung by the heart of piety
By tongue of Sunday sobriety
Without love?
Of what worth is one’s devotion
In midst of temple’s commotion
Outside the pious promotion
Without love?
Of what worth is the given dollar
On a day auspicious to charity
Widened by life’s disparity
Without love?
Of what worth are such things
As the servant to their master
The king to his queen
The devotee to God
The Radha to her Krishna
The Christ to his father
The virgin to her mother
And a kiss thereupon bestowed…
Of what worth is the moistness
Without love?
