Nepal Appoints Living Goddess

The child looks at me
from the newspaper page

she is a newly-appointed
living goddess
chosen for her perfect hair
eyes
teeth
skin
and horoscope

she has proved herself
by spending a night alone
without showing fear
among the heads
of ritually slaughtered
goats and buffaloes

a three-year-old child
carried from her parents' home
to the ancient temple

incarnation of a Hindu deity
she is wrapped in red silk
her hair adorned with red blossoms
her hair is tied up
a third eye painted on her forehead

priests chant sacred hymns
and cascade flowers over her
worshipers will touch their foreheads to her feet

during festivals
she will be carried on a chariot
pulled by devotees

her eyes are dark pools
looking out from her perfect face
as if asking
silently
what in her horoscope
or beauty
condemns her to surrender childhood
and all its rainbow colors
for a prison of red

to become an icon
with reverence instead of family
worshipers instead of friends
a mirror of the Divine
dressed in red
like the blood
of the slaughtered

she will be returned
to her family
only when her body yields
the blood of puberty
and priests seek
the new perfection.