Prithu Sanyal

Tag: poem-02 (বাংলা)

  • Friends of the Pyre

    After the last pyre at the burning ground turns to ash
    we take the road home.
    The dead one’s kin block our way.
    We eat the sweets held out to us.
    Eating those sweets, our heavy faces
    fill with smiles.
    After the last pyre turns to ash
    we take the road home.
    The sadhus of the burning ground block our way,
    we take a sudden pull on the sadhu’s pipe.
    When smoke fills our lungs, our minds
    grow light.
    We forget about death.
    We forget the dead.
    After the last pyre turns to ash
    we take the road home.
    We go home.
    We wait
    for the invitation to the funeral feast.
    We are friends of the pyre.
    We eat our fill at the funeral feast.
    Death, to us, is another word for feasting.
    Death, to us, is sweets in the mouth, a pull on the pipe.