Adithya Hassan


Into the River

They plucked the pipes out of her body
And declared her dead
The world didn't bother to stop
I thought it would…
My own
But life had its own plans,
As per her wish
I immersed her ashes into the
Flowing Cauvery*
Effortlessly the dust unified with
The torrent
That night I tossed and turned in sleep
Thinking about the past that
Emptied into the river
Just like a river into the ocean,
She merged back into the elements
Fire earth air and water
Leaving behind a space
Through which the Cauvery flows.

* River in Karnataka, India

Adithya R Hassan is currently pursuing his MBA at Georgia State University, Atlanta. Some of his poems have been published in Small Spiral Notebook and Savoy.