Along the Ganges
Life ceased days ago
in Varanasi
A corpse is slowly incinerated
Puffs of sandalwood and burning hair
Tended by the despised
It will take longer than you think.
Flames grow tall
fed by human flesh
Bones will remain, a gold tooth, a forgotten bangle
given as a show of good faith
on a wedding day, a day of princely manners and white horses.
Life ends
In the shivering body of a starving dog
Huddled on the ghat
Amongst withered marigold petals
From the last celebration.
My heart seizes, contracts
Desperately I offer the small bit of food I carry
in case I should feel hunger
Leftover basmati, a piece of naan bread
But it is too late.
Life explodes
into being
in a gush of fluid
Next to a red temple pressed into the mud
Inches from oblivious boys with cricket bats
A white and black
newborn goat takes its first step
Toward mother’s nourishment
My heart expands.