Skeleton Of Neruda Poem by Dr Tapan Kumar Pradhan
Skeleton Of Neruda
Why did the old man die? Or How?
That is the truth you wanted to know
Not that you really cared. (Now that
the property's been bequeathed,
copyrights handed over to legal heirs)
Ah! you are curious about the history part?
<i>Yes, the old man will never come back</i>
<i>But some of his history might come back.</i>
Yes, history will be re-written all over tonight
If you find hint of an axe blow on his collar bone
Could have been the work of a childhood rival
Or the secret handiwork of the Scheming Junta
Or was it a scuffle with one of his girlfriend's paramour?
Yes, history will be re-written all over tonight
If you find a gold wrist watch buried in his coffin
It could have been heirloom of the military doctor
Who left it absentmindedly (?) inside the abdomen
While conducting a routine (?) procedure for ulcer.
And history <i>is</i> going to be re-written tonight
For you are going to find something, <i>something</i> -
A ring, a cigarette butt, a pencil, a handkerchief
An apple seed, a toothpick, a woman's DNA
A footnote, a remark, an observation
Why the skull was tilted to one side only
And not the other; why the left toe was bent
Why the coffin was made of cheap cedar wood
And not of ewe, or mahogany, or a steel casket?
Questions'll be asked, questions'll be answered -
For unlike the dead white sands of silent Atacama
History has never truly remained the same
It has changed its course, changed its stance
Like the inquisitive black waters of Rio Maule
Like the ever changing moods of La Llorona
It has always swayed to the tunes, pendulum like
Between a Ruling Party and an Opposition Party.
So whenever you start digging into history
History will be re-written all over again
Pages will be deleted, chapters added
Commas, hyphens will change their positions
A full stop will become a question mark
And quotes will become part of the main text.
And the more you dig
the more you will gain
and the more you'll lose
faith from history.
**********
(The poem was short-listed for the AIPC-2013 National Poetry Competition)
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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5/10/2024 10:03:10 AM # 1.0.0.1119
Superb reading. Pradhan has an amazing gift for converting real life stories into captivating works of art. Here the exhumation of Neruda's dead body has been used as a backdrop to juxtapose the opposing forces in history. It is a telling commentary on the ways in which history is written and re-written by the forces that be. It is also a veiled commentary on the use and misuse of literary devices. I loved the part Commas and hyphens change their position. A Fullstop becomes a Question Mark. Indeed! ! Super imagination. A deserving award winner!