It was a pompous show, <br />For everyone should know, <br />The funeral procession <br />Of a rich man of the town. <br /> <br />Inch by Inch, the funeral cart moved. <br />Step by step, the mourners walked. <br />In black costumes, each one was dressed. <br />Front and back, march passed the crowd. <br /> <br />At the gate of the burning ghat, <br />The procession came to a halt. <br />Each one spoke, in praise of the dead <br />And tears flowed, for what they said. <br /> <br />On the sandalwood bed, <br />The body was laid, <br />And his son lit the fire, <br />That engulfed the funeral pyre. <br /> <br />The dead man's remains, <br />In the form of ash and bones, <br />To the sea, were consigned <br />As a finish, at the end. <br /> <br />At the bottom of the seabed <br />The bone of a poor man dead <br />Addressed his bone and said <br />'Welcome to this silent seabed.' <br /> <br />'The difference, when we were alive <br />Is no more with us, now let us live, <br />Not as poor or rich, but as one element, <br />No hatred feelings to foment.' <br /> <br />From the elements, man comes, <br />And back to the elements, he goes. <br />In between arises a low-high status, <br />That brings a world of differences.<br /><br />Rajaram Ramachandran<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/unity-of-the-elements/
