LAST MOMENT
Prof. S. RENGACHARI
Dear mother, when you were lying
with a broken bone
they asked me
how you were.
I said better;
Thiruppavai and Thyagiah’s Kritis
flowed from your melodious lips;
Doctors assured
nothing wrong.
I was happy
Mrityu was kept away.
Soon a spectral laughter arose
as if from nowhere
like skeleton dancers
bobbing up and down
around a burning pyre
in the midnight graveyard
sending amidst its peals
a noose to strangle
the string. of the lyre,
to put out the orbs
that gave serene light.
A chill wrapt me
with a death-like grip.
Thiruppavai: 30 devotional songs sung by Sri
Andal, one of the Vaishnavite
Alwars, addressed to Lord Krishna in the month of Mrigaseesha.
Thyagiah: A great music composer born
in the 19th century in Tanjore District, who devoted himself
to the service of Lord Rama.
Mrityu: Lord of Death.