in memoriam – saifudeen

 

death is something that makes you understand the value of life. and, its worthlessness.

 

you learn to inhale more deeply, taking in more of the world with every breath. you learn to open your eyes wider. you learn to hear more and say less.

 

death isn’t a stranger. having known its cold indifference on one’s shoulder in the early teens, watching it burn up a life time’s pride and longing, to a few fistful of ashes

you learn to greet death in your stride, never pausing to give it a proper stare..

 

the business of life was more important.

 

then it takes away something that lay deeply embedded in one’s very self, it is a pull at one’s very roots..

 

and one is forced to respond. and, reflect.

the loss that one feels is a searing longing for things to be as it was before. that, it was a passing nightmare.

 

the things that were left unsaid, things that were left undone..

if only, if only one had known…

 

but wishes don’t bring back the dead. the dead simply remain dead.

 

now, as what was once a person rots and crumbles deep in a coffin, memories rise up like vapour.. a spirit that comes to haunt its most favoured terrains.

 

like a weathered leaf caught in the rut of everyday living, memory trembles with every rustling wind.

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