Coming Back from the Dead

The world stops with death,
The living say.
But only for a while, really,
Before it cranks up again
To full spin and throttle,
Even for the beloved,
Save the anniversaries.

This now is purgatory,
But with no heaven –
Only return – at the end.
Bones coming together,
Sinews, the blood of life
Flowing, and sweet breath.
But the same imbecile tasks.

Of karma there is plenty
To go round for everyone,
For seconds and thirds,
And still have tons left.
Roger Miller sang of
Roses and whippoorwills
In reincarnation.

Talking of which:
Who was this vile thing
In its former life?
With the choking deaths,
Evacuations, and clampdowns,
I think of the Georgian.
Or was it the Marquis?

© Abie Alexander
Shillong       June 23, 2020

Roger Miller – ‘Reincarnation’   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnR9zvTvTog

The Georgian: the reference is to Stalin whose forced migrations of entire communities of people, with little or no notice, thousands of miles from their homes, resulted in death and destitution of millions. His actions were declared to be arbitrary and cruel acts by the Supreme Soviet a year after his death.
A parallel is drawn to the manner in which lockdowns were imposed in some countries resulting in untold hardship to millions of migrant labor, forcing many of them to walk hundreds of miles to their villages in other states to escape starvation and death. The other aspect is the large-scale international evacuation of nationals to their home countries resorted to by many countries.

The Marquis is, of course, Marquis de Sade, who derived pleasure from inflicting pain and suffering on others.