Incinerate Your Love
For T. Ruthiran (1937-1996)
plots lined with cypresses
silence of respect
pebbles levelled with care
in lined walks
in rectilinear angles
slabs of slate
of marble
fading posy of flowers refreshed
a framed dageurrotype now
the glass cracked by hale stones
dried leaves of pine forsythia rose
drifting in the inturning autumnal gusts
the caretaker sweeps the debris of yesterdays's solemn descent
paper cups spilled soil
cracked flower pots
chewing gum wrappers
all the rectangular plots dark cutting-edge smoothness of polished finish
low arches plain chiselled stone names years
of the to be remembered siblings parents children
remembered by whom
whose bodies post mortem
stink of medicinal cleansing scent
brains dissected
hearts expunged
livers sliced
intestines evacuated dumped together with failing pancreas kidneys in grey plastic bags
sawed bones held together by adhesive tape
gashed wounds pallid crinkled skin robed in Sunday best
the face a mask the undertaker's camouflage
She said somewhat apologetically: He went peacefully. R.I.P. Looked like a god in repose!
the last rites of holy scented water
the casket lowered in worm-proof cement caves
the underground in-vasion
the perfumed corpse coming apart from wet kisses tear-stains blood-clots diseased parts live roses nose phlegms ear-wax the last act still unflushed from vaginas the motion still stuck in the rectum
little by little
even before the week is over
even before tears curdle in dearly bereaved bosoms
bacteria turn to worms viruses perhaps to white ants
eating eyes tongues lips cheeks ears brains wood skin and putrid flesh
a symphonic moving feast of simmering violin murmurings
villous worms growing nosier thornier
fat worms gorging on fattening worms
and the wrenching stench festering from pulsating orifices
drive even worms for cover in the acidic marrow
little by little
even the bones rot
the best suit strands of worms war ribboned medals on the bony cage
the skull shiny from polished pickings
eye-sockets two cavernous dens for voracious slithering things
the monkey's unclaspable full-kernel hand stuck below the eye of the coconut
overskull the lamenting ones come hugging flowers week after week
lamenting the loss of an armful of live mud
from earth you came
to earth you descend
any fool knows
from suns we rose
and in fire we'll glow
what rancour drives these ritualistically scented shamans to commit degrading murder
towards their loved ones
would that by law all graves were topped by transparent glass
and troops and troops of tourists brought in to survey the merry moveable feast
plant fruity trees where the worms had supped
and sell the produce at the gates of cemetries
for these law-makers to realize
that nothing purifies like fire
even their mighty minds
the fired remains
ashes mingle united
before time's end
(©T.Wignesan, Paris - June 22/23,1997
from the collection: longhand notes (a binding of poems) ,1999]
poem by T. Wignesan
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