My Mother Is Not Dead

Because death is such a human
way of saying that the body
is no longer breathing;
Calling it a really long nap
would make it sound frivolous;
It would take away the seriousness
with which we dispose off
the unconscious mass of flesh and bones;
Who or what will comfort the “living”
but the relief attained on releasing
the body back to Nature —
back to where it came from?
Because death’s job is to carve
out suffering from the victim and
divide it amongst the ones left behind
Disproportionately

My mother is not dead
because death is merely a placeholder —
a term used to define the end of
the person we used to know
for that person has now changed —
that person no longer listens to your stories
or laughs at your jokes;
that person no longer looks into your eyes
or waves you goodbye;
that person no longer smiles;
that person no longer cries;
that person does nothing human;
that person has changed
and that changes you

My mother is not dead
because death requires birth
and birth is merely a placeholder —
a term used to denote the beginning
of all that “life” has to offer
because a life may be just a
collection of chemicals but
oh what a beautifully built
assemblage it can be:
full of proteins, energy, blood
hair, hands, legs, nose
eyes, ears, lungs, toes
and most importantly, love

My mother is not dead
because birth is such a human
way of saying that the body
has stepped out of the womb
into the light of the day;
How else would you describe
the culmination of a masterpiece
nine months in the making,
resulting in screams of exultation
and tears in a small group of adults
clamouring to hold the little
bundle in their arms?
But the baby was there before
it stepped out of the womb —
in the form of a foetus with
its organs growing and maturing,
and before that it was an embryo,
and a blastocyst, and a morula,
and a zygote, and a gamete split
half into one and half into another;
and if we trace it further back
we will reach the “death” of stars;
the baby has always been around
you have always been around
I have always been around
in one form or another;
only in this form I am conscious
with proper feelings
only in this form I have a name
a proper noun
only in this form I get to call her Ma

My mother is not dead because
she was never born