My World On the Pyre Cold

There she was, silenced; in the hush of the night, By nature's decree and the will of the almighty divine's right. Upon the pyre, her form ablaze, a somber sight, While I sought to console my sisters in the fading twilight. My wife wept, her sorrow embers tinged with uncertainty's shade, My children held their grief in solitude, their hearts weighed. Relatives stood in their solemn, scripted charade, A lifetime together, but I realised how little to her, I’d really paid. In her eyes, I kept finding stories untold, mysteries wholly deep, From the moment of my birth, I knew her, yet her secrets were not mine to keep. Now, as her essence ascends, my heart starts to weep, As the pyre blazes, and her stillness settles in eternal sleep. Since my birth, I'd been her world and she mine unfurled, Yet there she stood, silenced, her voice this time unheard, God! Now she, my world lies on the burning pyre, cold and still. Tears eluded me, as I grappled with her absence surreal, For it was hard to fathom that she was no longer real. Not when the ventilator ceased its mechanical zeal, Not when her form turned cold, her gaze fixed in ordeal. Not when her hand slipped from mine, her silence profound, As she embarked on a journey to another realm unbound. I performed the rituals, a trance-like, surreal surround, Lit the pyre, her earthly vessel's resting ground. Recalled the scriptures, the teachings of ages untold, That the body's just a vessel, the soul transcends, for another story to unfold. Yet, my heart ached, as the flames flickered and rolled, Hoping for one last sign, one last message to behold. But she chose silence, a parting so cruel, so unkind, Left me behind, in a world now undefined. And that's when the floodgates of sorrow unlined, Tears cascaded down, leaving my soul maligned. There she was, silenced, in the blaze's fiery dance, My world reduced to ashes in a poignant circumstance. Lying cold still, in her final, poignant trance, I whispered to my mother, in this heart-wrenching last chance. “In your first embrace, my heart had forever found it’s home”