Thursday, September 22, 2022

reading Jhumpa Lahiri at Starbucks


"Expired. A word used for library cards, for magazine subscriptions."

                                                       -- Ashima, from The Namesake

 

 

the world goes on

life proceeds

why?

 

we die. we expire, folks. 

can't you understand?

 

sweet Ashima's husband

the dull and extraordinary Ashoke Ganguli

has passed on, in a hospital

in CLEVELAND of all places

 

stop making your Frappuccino’s

stop dancing to that inane music

stop! stop the world!

we will all someday

know what this life was

what it truly meant

in retrospect

 

oh, how we will weep

for what we will have lost

what we never gave its due

what we sped through pick-up windows

to gloss over, to rush toward its end

this precious existence

as plain as the gift of Earth’s support

under our feet

 



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