Bruce Was Cremated

[atiguhya padma]

Bruce was cremated….. you said.
The words seemed so foreign and strange
Like some faraway land, some obscure culture.

So you settled for travel,
Like the life of a nomad
Rather than that rooting in the soil
That you could never live with.

And truth be told
You still travel
From one world to another
Constantly.
Only the other day
I saw you in my world,
You were carried by another,
Or at least another man’s language
Spoke you into being
Like a song.

And there must be many worlds
Where you live anew each day.
Worlds beyond your description,
But that include you and your thoughts.

It would not be any better
To say the body of Bruce was cremated,
I know.

I look down through my window
Upon the neighbours below
Lying there
Trapped, only ever moving
With the momentum of earth
And its more intimate creatures.