Shaming Death
From time immemorial
human ashes are immersed
in the holy waters of Ganga
as phool, petals of divine flowers,
stripped of bodily apparel
streaming through unseen and
unknown water paths
Dissolving with the clay of the urn
Flowing with no destination
Entering the mythical and
Discarding the ordinary
Always wrapped in enchanting tales
of mythology and the sacred,
Ganga stands deeply shamed today
Disrobed and violated
Ganga rebels,
her chest heaving, gasping as
the bug infested human corpses
float in pristine waters
As unconsecrated bodies
Not sanctified by fire,
No burial nor cremation
The living abused by maladies
Death denied of reverence
Bodies are carcasses today
Dehumanized and disgraced
rolling wild over the waves
reversing into the world of beasts
Dispossessed of sacramentals
Divorced from rituals
and ceremonies
evolved over centuries
to respect life,
To lend dignity to death
as yet another journey
Untitled
Where shall I write
the paper twists in pain
all space is in awkward crinkles
Where shall I paint
The canvas fills
with sighs and whispers
As I lift those brushes
I carry the cross nailed by
Preface
Why would the tiger of silence not leave
any pug marks behind in the forest of words?
My poems emerge while searching for these
pug marks amid the cacophony around,
picking words that cancel all noise in themselves,
such that pulsate in echoes of meaning and then
vanish into colourless space —
past sound beyond meaning.
Sukrita Paul Kumar, poet and critic, was born and brought up in Kenya. She held the prestigious Aruna Asaf Ali Chair at Delhi University. Her recent collections of poems, amongst others, are Country Drive, Dream Catcher, Untitled, and Poems Come Home.
