A poem by Priya Huffman
on canvas stretched
tight on freshly
cut bamboo
we bear
her wrapped
and flowered body
to the burning ghats
a mad
procession of
singers and dancers
gasp collectively as
the white robed guardian
thrusts his long lit rod
precisely into the heart
of that funeral pyre
flames burst up
28 years
10 days from onset.
she was our first to die.
we who bowed
to the full moon
faithful to our night
yearnings, relishing
the pleasure body
we knew nothing of death.
our voices rose in song
higher than the fire
that cancelled out night stars
louder than the raucous crackling
itself a conversation
none of us wanted
to hear
it muted the sight
of our friend, hair
ablaze, melting flesh
crumbling bones
I never knew
how much wood it takes
to burn just one human body
we peeled away
when embers turned ashes
when dark turned light
to wash every mortal part
pitch our clothes, turn from
some unnamable discomfort
a fierce determination
burning us to forget
what we saw
what we heard
what we now
know.
Poem by Priya Huffman, from her second book of poetry ‘of Bone and Breath’ – priyahuffman.com
More articles and poems by this author on Osho News
Read Madhuri’s review of of Bone and Breath
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