The In Betweens~

 

Between the first beat of the heart

And the last

The story nestles into the bones

So that when they lay the woman on the pyre

The smoke will carry every tale

To a heaven she never believed in

 

A wise one once said

If it cannot be disproved

It’s possible

 

I wonder

When I finally bend knees

As I sift through her ash

Will there be a godling next to me

Tracing her calligraphy

Into the sky

 

One never knows

What dreams may come

Between the last heartbeat

And the first breath

 

Auntie always said,

Infants are cranky

Because they still remember

The other story in their bones

Before the inhale

And the exhale

Begins to write them anew

 

 

copyright:2011vssmd/amusemusepress

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Reviews

[Ashesh]

its a ritual in hinduism that people are put upon the pyre after the death. i have been to many such occasions and my mind had similar queries about life like in your poem. others things in life make very little sense then; death is the only universal truth it seems.
how eloquently you potrayed this feeling. loved reading this one. thank you.

[Jim Cavill]

I really like the combination of Hindu mythology and your quote from Hamlet.

[paul]

inspiring. and magical
really beautiful

[Jibey]

Old and new, death and life, dreams and reality - nicely woven together in a poem aboit poems... somehow

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

Wise one and Auntie are both correct... always so much wisdom and creativity in your work.

[Bard Constantine]

absolutely entrancing...

[Zeitgeist Manifesto]

Wow Silene. Wow. Your poem is an absolute stunner.
I love how the fire seems to birth the soul into the
spiritual realm. This is a beautiful cycle.

This poem took my breath away.

[No use.]

YOU ALREADY KNOW! loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[Siddhartha]

bristles with metaphysical intelligence...and spiritual equanimity...there is life between the first breath and the last and the next...and ode to life...and death...the beginning and the end that is but another beginning...divine...

[Rikkevi Rue]

perhaps Auntie was right! My 8 yr old son complained because my daughter was playing some brash modern day rock and roll (her being 4 years older than he) and asked if he could change the station. She complaintively agreed and he turned the radio in a practiced fashion to a station playing Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, hummed along for a few bars and them turned, sighed and said, "Now THATs music!"

My favorite stanza is the one:

"One never knows
What dreams may come
Between the last heartbeat
And the first breath"

the world has become so materialistic that I applaud loudly any inference that even slightly hints that we might be more than just sinews and muscle and spirituality lives on (since we are going to anyway LOL)

and the most poetic:
"...Will there be a godling next to me
Tracing her calligraphy
Into the sky"

outside the inside looking it all over! wonderful inspiring work Selene.

[Sukriti Suki]

very well written.