I Prefer The Word

by Ananya S. Guha / June 29th, 2025

I prefer the word ‘death’
To ‘passing away’ or ‘passing on’
Death
Is so direct, so straightforward
That I would not like it to be
Hidden
In euphemism
It tells the truth
And we understand
The truth even when
We pay our homilies
To the departed
One
By
One
That, only Death
Will understand
Antonym of life
One by one
We die
The word has a crudity
But it is honest, resourceful
Encompassing all humanity

Ananya S Guha lives in Shillong in North East India, where he was born and brought up. He has been writing and publishing his poetry for the last forty years. His poetry has been published in both electronic and print formats such as: Indian Literature, Other Voices, Osprey Journal, Glasgow Review, The Literary Nest, Up The Staircase, Asia Writes, Art Arena, Praxis Online, Muse India, Your One Phone Call, In Between Hangovers, The Peeking Cat Magazine, Post Colonial Text among others. He has also written widely on educational and social matters. He has ten collections of poetry and his poetry has been anthologized in various collections of Indian poetry in English. He holds a doctoral on the novels of William Golding. Read other articles by Ananya S..

This article was posted on Sunday, June 29th, 2025 at 8:00am and is filed under Poetry.