THREE CANTOS ON DEATHS IN DYAL SINGH

“When a big tree falls…, the earth trembles”, decreed the Emperor.


History tells many such
tales of programmed
tremors and genocide,
justified in thy name,
mother earth.

The truth is,
When a tree falls…,
needless to say big or small,
the earth cries.
Full stop.

But when you kill a tree…
the earth cries in anger…
Mourns the death
of birds, nests, eggs.
Of life, love, man.
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The morning after,
do not rush in urgent haste
and smuggle the cut trees
to the nearby crematorium
to burn the dead.

Let the trees rest
in the lap of mother earth
let the bough kiss
the soil for the first
and last time.

Let the branches
smell the earth;
taste the soil
in the leaves:
Let the kiss last a minute longer…
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Remember,
a dead body
on a butchered trunk
won’t catch fire
that easily.

The wetness
of its blood-soaked memory
will put out the
pyre many times
and make you lit again.

Mourners and Murderers,
assemble in the crematorium -
(S)laughter in the name of commonwealth
will beget burnt embers in your eyes
and make you weep for real.
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