Dead People's Tree. Poem by RAVIKIRAN ARAKKAL

The tree stood alone,
Inside a ground,
With huge walls,
Sometimes decorated
By a dead body,
Whenever a death
Occured in the community,
The tree had vultures
On it all over,
Which ate dead bodies
With much avarice,
Leaving the bones on ground,
The flesh torn, eaten,
The death a feast
To vultures, with the assumption
That the soul is transported
To the heavens,
If consumed by the vultures,
Which are nature's
Eaters of the dead ones
As it was in ancient times,
The ritual kept
By the community.


Ravikiran Arakkal