She Wore White Poem by Jayshree Misra Tripathi

She wore White.

In memory of Sibabrata 1955-2017

Whispers from the corner
made my resolve stronger
as we climbed in beside you,
in a strange local hearse, unknown vintage,
two days after we brought you home.
You would have liked the Embraer Jet,
the air ambulance that trembled
through turbulent skies,
dipping with the air currents,
as we held you tight.
You slept on - opened your eyes
to familiar voices, breathed in and out
quickly, gasping for Life,
You - in the throes of Pain,
the Crab had the last laugh.
Sixty-one is no age to Die.

We held you tightly, she and I,
as we jolted down
the narrow-cobbled streets
to where you had once stood
beside your father - alone in the end,
you had often said over thirty years.
It had rained that day, so
mourners slipped away.
We recalled your anguish,
your tears at fitful memories,
as the decades rolled by.
So here you lie now, so cold, so calm
on unruly sticks, no sandalwood logs,
only a few chips offered in token respect.
No, we were not meant to be here,
At the cremation ground.

She wore white, her body convulsed in grief,
she walked around your pyre,
tears flowing, constantly, like silent waterfalls.
The pot of water, its trickle on her shoulder,
I see, yes I can still SEE…
Drops gently flow through The Hole.
Life is now Extinct.
Now the Purification of Existence,
of one who grudgingly believed
In the Power of Religion, not Ritual.
The Brahmin reluctantly handed her
Eternal Fire - to Singe Your Soul, set it Free.
She stooped, convulsed in grief, saw
Scalding Flames that set your Soul free.

The End.

Whispers from the corner,
made my resolve stronger.
I clenched both palms,
holding our son's intangible hand,
but he, so far away
in another continent,
could not arrive in time;
so I held her palm in mine.
No. Untrue.
I stood alone, hands ajar, propped
by the Circle of Friends and Family,
Some that loved us. Some Invisible.
And there we stood, she and I,
Trespassers in the Fold of Tradition.
I do believe
You would have smiled at our stance!
***