Day One: Climb a small hill

Day one: Climb a small hill

Tribal peoples await our arrival
with bowls of water to wash our hands
and warm smiles to unhinge our hearts.
A fifteen year old drummer ambassadors us.
Women in gold and red saris
dance in procession to the beat of drums.
We follow and a tiny child grabs our finger.
Up a small hill, dancing through their lives
we are led: InterPlayers and Catholics from Vasai.
Up the hill to the porch of a small church
one by one we receive red dots of honor
on our foreheads. All is joy.
In the sanctuary, to drumming, we enter
between lines of women dancing.
They take us up, linking our arms in theirs
women with women, men with men,
in such radiant order, the spiral dance begins.
Children present us with rose after rose.
We drink cola, dance in shape and stillness
A dance on behalf of their church
and sing Namaste, Namaste
having climbed a small hill
to the top of the world.