Lay Me To Rest - For Father Bismarque Dias, Goa Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

I am not a statue
I am not a streetlight
which will keep on watching
the world passing by.
I am a priest
I was a priest ordained by God
I have done all my duties while I lived,
I have loved everyone and
everything created by God;
my love for nature was greater indeed;
I lost my life, I am now motionless.
I have been here in custody
waiting anxiously for my burial;
I ask you for your attention
I have done no crime
I have not sinned to be sleeping here
in this cold catacomb
while you keep seeking
justice for my inert remains;
my body thirsts for eternal bliss
the earth is my only cradle
in its bosom, place me to rest.
I am not your inheritance
I belong to God
you cannot keep me back
my soul is waiting to feel free
my heart, my breath has all ceased;
if only will you know
the value of your grief
over the grief that I feel
of you not letting me go,
you will then know
that it is by the Will of God
death carries us to another world
so divine, so celestial,
let me now go from this world in whole.
Between you and me
you have seen my dedication
I have seen the same from you
now let God see our dedication to Him
bury me and let God grant me
the eternal peace I deserve.
For nature I lived,
for nature I strived until the last
nature was my true love,
in nature's bosom
my body now yearns to sleep,
let mother-earth embrace me
let dust unto dust return.
Rejoice that you prayed for me
rejoice that you sought justice for me,
no reward is greater than
the kingdom of God
no man can withhold that from another
don't let me linger on here in vain
dont let your hearts linger on in pain.
Keep moving on,
keep your devotion to God;
keep moving on,
till we meet in heaven someday again;
keep moving on,
bury me and lay me to rest.
Rejoice that you prayed for me
rejoice that you sought justice for me,
no reward is greater than
the kingdom of God.