The Black Bird
The temple chimney
puffs out the pitch-black smoke of cremation
that bird there flying slowly above it
does not fly away even when morning becomes noon
does not fly away even when the day’s sun hangs in the western hills
but when a woman opens the big barred gates and comes out of the temple
it follows behind her
the black bird
follows the black woman.
The woman passes the garden of the temple as night falls
along the road that runs straight through the forest
across the wide fields and the low hills
by the village that glows with dusky fires
and stands beside the river
the black bird
goes inside the black woman
the black woman
cries.
-Varanasi, India