A Stranger's Funeral Poem by Shalini Samuel

I stand there emotionless
Someone is dead
Flowers adorn her smiling face
People come and go
Weep they, children of Eve
Shamiana covers the dead and alive.

Grandmother to some
Mother to her children
Mother in law to her in-laws
Wife for bereaving husband
Friend to her friends
A neighbour and a homemaker
A kind teacher for her students
Many roles had she played.
In her short stay with us,
I am in no way connected to her.

A pretty stranger, an acquaintance maybe
Yet she is a human being
I stayed there to bid her goodbye
I said" How mature I have become?
I have accepted death as it is."
I have seen the death of my close ones.
It has numbed my tear glands.
Life is uncertain, it's made of porcelain
Painted bright, fragile inside.

A moment later, the funeral song entered my ears
Instant gloom engulfed my strong heart
The death of my close kith and kin haunted me, again
Those dreadful seconds braided to the song throttled me
My knees trembled, heart shuddered, lips shivered
I cried to my heart's content for a stranger
And I knew, still, death haunts my fearful mind.