Summing Up
By: Anadi Naik
The casket was made of Mahogany and brass
Looked beautiful like the body it held inside
Well-groomed, silken white hair
And complexion like a kernel of sweet corn.
Eyes closed, hands lying on the chest look so real !
Not the same as I knew her.
She is just a body
Ready to be devoured by elements.
Her time was up.
She had to go.
In real life she was a friend.
I liked her smile. When she bantered she was forceful
And people took note
In her working life years ago
she was a shop steward.
Employees loved her and she loved them back.
At work for years she was the person to go to
She deliberately made every boss’s life miserable.
A widow in retirement
Church and friendship filled her days.
Alone, she volunteered for causes
She cherished the flag.
Loved the republic not the Republicans
Stood for democracy and against the Democrats.
She got into trouble .
“But it is good trouble” she would say.
To the end she remained an independent
A rarity in the Trump era.
Now all of that is stuffed in her little frame.
The death soaked body of an elderly woman
Soon to be buried for ever.
Bombs are falling from the sky
People are being killed in distant lands
Hungry babies are dying .
Nature’s wrath in all continents.
Nothing concerns her anymore.
She is dead.