But For The Good Will If At All They Earned While They Were Alive! Poem by Dr.V.K. Kanniappan

Conch is blown by a person squatting,
the conch in the right hand he is holding;
the bell on a metal plate with a stick beating;
People are coming one by one and crying:

Some of the old women beating on the chest;
Partially glimpsing at the persons around with zest,
ladies are sitting around the ‘freezer and to me’ next
in which my body was kept to prevent decomposition must;

The time has come for my departure with hues and cries,
Relatives take me out of the freezer, controlling their grieves
Carries me to the bier made of four straight bamboo sticks;
Over it coconut leaves and a sheet of cloth sparingly spreads,

tied me with strings of cloth without shaking side by sides;
wife cried while the friends carried me on their shoulders;
I looked around to see who are all following me to yards;
Had I lost my precious two brothers at their ages;

of forty seven and fifty two respectively, many years went off;
three fellows are following me without much grief;
another two brothers missing! O’ the second named X,
the fifth named Y whom I could not see; O’ I see!

I forgot they, the wretched, went to grave before me!
I realized that nobody can take anything, the power,
property or money with them but for the good will
if at all they earned while they were alive!