An Epitaph Made of Light & Air

An Epitaph Made of Light & Air

 

I want to drift out of this world.

 

Maybe a Cohen playlist in the background,

or even better,

someone reciting my favourite Mary Olivers.

Let there not be pain, I pray,

and let there be a sense of reconciliation,

of everything being the way it was meant to be,

to everything being left the way it was meant to be.

Someone would crack a joke

that I was always fond of the unfamiliar

and this, my final foray into a mystery.

 

And I would wonder what it would be like

to carry my consciousness 

wherever I was meant to be,

if only to embrace old friends

who might be waiting knowingly for me.

 

I would wonder if the words I leave behind

would still ring true after me,

and there would be someone

who would continue loving me,

and think - I know 

that poem was for me.

 

Do put the cloth of my last journey

in an empty room, in the sun's trajectory,

let there be plenty of light and air,

so those who understand would say

what a wondrous poem to leave with.

 

~ Sunil Bhandari

 

I am a poet based in India. My book of poetry 'Of Love and Other Abandonments' was an Amazon bestseller. My second book 'Of journeys & Other Ways to Get Lost' is just out. Both are available as Kindle on Amazon.

 

Follow me on Instagram at @sunilgivesup.

Get in touch with me on uncutpoetrynow@gmail.com