A LAMENT

Ants come first
Silent
Heads bowed

Searching for
Memory's dampness or sweetness
They will creep
On the forehead, eyelids
Lips, nipples, hips

Street dogs
Come next
Unable to make out
Dry bloodstains
They will pounce and bark
Sniffing and licking

When all leave
Vultures swoop down
They will flutter
Pecking at
The heart's firmness
And eye's depth.

Worms
They may come
From anywhere anytime
Even the earth entire
Can't satiate their hunger

Roots
They come last
Penetrating deep into each wound
And secret
Sucking pain
And bitterness
They burst out into silent laughter.

© Thachom Poyil Rajeevan

Commentary:

This poem was occasioned by the brutal killing of a Keralite communist revolutionary, Vargese, in 1970s by police. His orphaned body had lain in the mud for two-three days and nights, noticed by none but animals and creatures. After two decades, i.e. in 1990s, the policeman who shot him confessed to the act, saying he did it on the order of superior officer to annihilate the revolutionaries. When published in the regional language of Kerala, Malayalam, the poem was well appreciated and critically acclaimed.