A City to Die

[BeeJay]

31st Jan, 2004


A glorious name entwined with
The streams Varuna & Assi
O Varanasi, is your allure
Only for the dying & the dead.

O Varanasi, whose turn is it to die.

Have you forgotten the Holy Ganges
Crescent shaped, bends as left it flows.
O Varanasi, why million Indians visit you
With reverence, fear and religious pride.

O Varanasi, whose turn is it to die.

Within the city confines lie, the stones,
Silent witness to Pillars of Saranath,
Asokan edicts & four-headed lions vie,
With temporal kings Buddha & Vishwanath.

O Varanasi, whose turn is it to die.

O Varanasi the sandstone of Chunar’s
Quarried hills, pockmarked & ravaged cry,
A legend, so ancient, but yet beautiful
A venerated bride, what do you decry?

O Varanasi, whose turn is it to die.

Hidden under coats of lime and plaster
Lay a marvel of astronomy, crafted when
Time was young & science adorned you,
O Varanasi what see you, in death’s final cry.

O Varanasi, whose turn is it to die.

The river front ghats are in endless blaze
Fed by the dead, to mere ashes reduced,
The Holy Ganges cannot clean this slime
O Varanasi, for the dead who should cry.

O Varanasi, whose turn is it to die.

Copyright © 2004 Baru Gobira


• All italics refer to names of rivers, streams, historical places, famous Kings of Indian history associated
to this day with lhe legendary City of Varanasi. The tradition through the ages has been for many devout Hindu’s, to aspire to die in Varanasi & be cremated on its banks, with their ashes forever immersed in the Holy River Ganges. This trend has been declinging over the last 100 years .The ghats are platforms spread on its banks where corpses are burnt and belief persists that the, the soul is freed from the cycle of births & deaths! If, one were to breathe their last in Varanasi. Environmentalists & the Indian Government continue to fight the pollution of the Holy River in the name of beliefs.