Originally published March 23, 2020...
The second city adventure continues. Our main character suddenly feels caught up in the life of others, in particular, the woman in black. With some hesitation, the scruffy and somewhat smelly MC accepts the invitation to accompany her to a funeral where a man is to be burned with his boat. Although dipping a toe into this community, the objective of getting to the sea remains. So, the protagonist is “among them, not of them.” This segment focuses on death and reactions to it. The MC is still young and coming face-to-face with death is somewhat of a surprise. Although this segment is about half the length of the usual, it is packed with serious matters; even Argose is low-key. The interaction between the MC and Ratcliff continues briefly at this point, and will pick up again in a later segment.
“I can’t eat yet, but I will go with you
that is if you won’t be embarrassed by me.”
“You can stay off to the side – hide your smell.”
She says this with a smirk and a chuckle
Argose paces back and forth nose snuffling
“All right then.” I run fingers through my hair
wiping my forearm across my mouth
So, the three of us set off for the harbor
I have no idea what I’m doing.
All there is besides this is sailing south
toward the ever-closer sea
ever searching blindly – Argose and me
Next day that’s exactly what I’m doing
The pure funeral fire remembered shining
big-prowed boat burning hot and radiantly
The black-clad woman with name of Ratcliff
did ignore me and instead talked with friends
I’m thinking of the funeral march before
the burning that started up in the town
all feet in time, stepping firm on the street
all the way from the middle of the city
men carried the corpse on its wooden bier
wreathed with ivy and white, star-shaped flowers
No one spoke on this water-bound journey
I saw the dead man’s sunken face and body
a tall, timeworn man – a gray-bearded man
the skin on his arms drooped like a folded sail
his chest unnaturally round held a heart
lately thrumming out a living breath-beat
sending that Northern blood coursing staunchly
on adventures aboard a boat unlike mine
or at least I fantasize him as so
truly I want to be when death takes me
one who kept going, one foot front the other
The man become corpse become blackened ash
become dark fragments on this green river
become nothing at all – nothing at all
The proud, dragon-bowed ship built with rough hands
lit like a candle – its wick at both ends
become the fire for the man who’s leaving
become debris – charred boards
become splinters in sand washed up on shores
become food for insects and pickings for birds
chewing and pecking ‘til nothing remains
nothing remains – nothing at all remains
All this I think on and wonder – fearful
like one who’s staked out under burning sun
How will I die? A nascent question comes
How will I die? A haunting from deep time
Surely, I am born and living, breathing
and if I am born certainly all others
come to light from dark waters emerging
bursting, wailing from ancient blood and bone
On such great matters I place my new mind
ticking, ticking for all like me, my kind
stealing looks at the corpse as all walk in time
I heard some say that after two nights
of mourning, they carried the empty bier
in procession through the city’s north gate
at the second watch of the night’s true name
they carried the dead man’s empty bier
around the city walls, in and out nine gates
finally leaving by the eastern gate toward
man and boat crackled like a forest burning
More thoughts arise on birth and more on death
These doubtful twins entwine from breath to breath
Surely, I will live on and on forever
unlike the burned-black corpse – I am not old
I’m barely beyond my childhood’s whining
Because of this corpse for my life pining
At the third watch on the third day came
from the river shore through the western gate
the man’s empty bier with no possessions
They placed it at center of the city’s square
Around it, corpses to be buried appeared
homage flowers and ivy heaped upon them
each circled by several black-clad mourners
I stood with the circles and Argose near
He has been most solemn and subdued here
as well as during these past days with me
Standing, I pondered if tomorrow I’d still be
Background:
Death and disappearance – one of the great matters of Buddhism. The main character, like the Buddha, comes close to a human corpse for the first time. The reaction is not one of horror or fear, but rather a deep curiosity. It would seem that most people simply don’t consider death very often, even when a loved one passes. Certainly, grieving is a part of such events; however, grief eventually passes, and as they say, “life goes on.” Similarly, when we are in good health, it seems the natural state; however, again like the Buddha, when we encounter someone who is gravely ill, it causes questions about our own fragility. When I say, “like the Buddha,” I’m speaking of the three sights that sent him running from his princely palace and cushy life. Those three: old age, sickness, and death. Two appear in this segment, the last in the next segment. It might not be a bad idea to consider our own meetings with these three.
Exploration 1: Three sentences into this segment, the verb tense changes. What reason(s) could be operative for doing this?
Exploration 2: Do you find the insertion of the corpse (man from the North) incongruous? Why might this man be in this southerly direction?
Exploration 3: What is your reaction to the MC’s ruminations on death and disappearance?
Thanks for this meditation on the isness of death.
ReplyDeleteSurely we will all live on forever and forever.