It opened my eyes by Charles Griffin

It opened my eyes

For the first time in my life

I was on my own and alone

Surrounded by people who stared

At me and spoke unknown words

And I was in the past living

In a world that Kipling lived in

With tonga wallahs and fakirs

Bullock carts moving along

On the Grand Trunk Road

Yes

My front door opened on the side

Of the Grand Trunk Road

And India streamed by

In its multitudes

Through day and night

There is no way to describe to you

The smell of cooking fires

Made with camel dung or cow patties

The taste of a chappatti

With flavors of earth and grass

Mixed with golden wheat flour

Just as men in armor wearing swords

Clattered by on horseback

So Centurion tanks rumbled by

On long trailers pulled by Lorries

War was on the frontier

And the soldier in me

As I had been a year earlier

Was tempted by friendly Jawans

To come and ride with them

Up the Grand Trunk to Pakistan

But I had promises made

To a different path and another duty

The affairs of states and the conflicts

Of armies were not my business

Hunger breeds despair and strife

And my job was to defeat hunger

To build a different kind of India

And to work for the cause of Peace

So I began my days in India

Turning small tasks toward new ways

Building visions and a poultry industry

Unlike anything Punjab State had seen before.

My days there were not the beginning

Of the project to change a nation

Other volunteers had started it

I helped it grow into a working model

And others followed to finish the task

Although I was alone with 100 farmers

I and the farmers in the cooperative

were cogs in a wheel slowly turning

to a distant and ultimately successful future

Adventure was my constant companion

No day went by without new learning

To some degree I became a part of India

As India became a fixed part of me

I saw the wheel begin to turn

In this singular thrill I am not alone

Other Peace Corps Volunteers

Must have seen it as well

I saw corruption and despair

Kindness among the impoverished

Rigidity among the privileged

And I saw hope becoming more than a dream

And a whole world poured into me

A universe of culture and diversity

Perhaps I placed a single brick

To build the bridge to the future

But I was forever changed

Because my eyes were opened.

Charles Griffin

After Midnight 1 April 2015

The Sandcastle at Dunehelm