The Burning

Original dance image: Lorna Sim

where has Body’s fire gone

doused by tears

cinder-rains on an ashen lifescape

it’s not world changing

this scorched grief

of a day after

memory is acrid Body

is this nirvana

this silence that sags with grief?

peace turns soot into snowflakes

of what use are dousing Deities

when it is rage that ignites?

yes, even on a day after

I dance on firebeds and

flee a sodden peace.

-Padma Menon