THE INSTRUCTIONS

While I participate a funeral function,

I notice some wall paintings,

Some instructions and information,

Describing the transitoriness of life,

The worth and ways of living in the world,

On the walls of the cremation ground.

My eyes and mind,

 Remain focused,

On those precious paintings and words,

All throughout the period,

Of my stay in that cremation ground.

As the fire of the pyre,

Goes on burning the cadaver,

A fire of newly accumulated wisdom,

Goes on purifying my inner being.

On my way back,

I look towards the black smoke,

That comes out of the pyre,

And loses its existence in the air,

The way my newly gained intellect,

Begins to lose its existence in my mind.

Pyre, is the last sacrifice when the human body mingles with the five elements of life; air, fire, water, earth and space from where it once came out according to Hindu beliefs.