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Post Mortem Instructions

…On loss and grief…

Tomorrow if I die

and as they grieve,

hold my daughters.

Have them purge

my phantom being.

Let them throw

impassioned brows

against impassive walls

Till eager young blood flows.

Bury with me

maternal anodynes,

cushioned reproaches

the memory of which

might limn the black soil,

ease sleep of

seeds that wait,

sweeten pollen

of a poppy or two.

Hold them, as grief

the stealthy healer

verandah of open doors,

beckons.

For if they freeze in

the silence that muffles,

they will roam, roam

horizontal nightscapes

semi peopled with

semblances of desire.

And forever

weep inside themselves

oceans, oceans

densely-purpled with

more pain than you

and I can imagine.

If I die tomorrow,

and as they mourn

hold my daughters

hold my daughters

Farida Haque