May 10: Ashes

From @rami_desh:
The memories of the dead are buried in their ashes.
But how could they be?
How could all those lives full of rich experience be embedded in those frail, fragile flakes? 
They are timeless, for they have no past or future.

From @nuzster:
You’ve managed to steal my soul,
crush it,
leave me wanting,
weeping.
I was vulnerable.
Again.
I shouldn’t be.
The tears don’t stop.
How long till I feel again,
till the ashes settle,
and my soul breathes again?

From Jonathan Vittachi  (@jonnyjujubes):
He never thought he'd be the one who would end up doing this, making the final arrangements for his father. It was as if this was the final deciding factor that pushed him from the precipice of child, to the man of the house. Funny, the control his father still had over him.

From @gajenmahen:
Chennai, 1993.
Mama had managed to call. He was on his way back to Kokkuvil, he said. She had been adamant that the ashes were to be scattered at Keerimalai.
She never made it out of the bunker they later said.
A violent death and a hurried funeral.
She was 78.

From @chav_:
"Listen to this... Mayer at his smoothest", I said turning the volume up.
"Ahhh, too good...". Another puff from the joint.
"Wanna watch some cricket?", he said, ashing.
"Not like you do, no?", said the other, looking at me disdainfully.
"'course I do!", protested self.
"But not the Ashes, shortstuff", they said, bursting into laughter.

From @BatmanEarth12:
It burned giving a shimmering halo. The ashes from the joint felt on my lap like snow. I am yet to understand why people engage in 'Kriya yoga' when you can easily realize God using psychedelics. 

ARGH!!!!! 

*cough* *cough*

Another coughing fit. Things don't always turn out to be rosy when you take the elevator to heaven without climbing the stairway.

From @Mari_deSilva & Saumya Fernando:
Absentmindedly she brushed the sacred powder on her forehead. She winced as she remembered his cowardice, his promises of bravado... If only she'd seen the signs. She could've saved her dignity, what was left of it at least. But she carried no malice. Dusting her fingers, she mopped her brow, fighting the rising bile...

From @shamsmakkiya:
He orphaned his poor wife and his beloved child in his mid 30s. All he left for them was a few ashes here and there.

"Chain-smoker" she sighed.

Crowded the crowd to witness the three soulless bodies that were being carried away to be cremated.

From @wikifreakz:
He beheld a sparklet.
Kept it in a tree hollow.
Ultimately,
the entire woods
burnt to ashes.

Yes!
Whilst a revolt breaks out,
No matter who's behind it..
Be it the old or the young,
The age cannot be
distinguished
And moreover,
It's rage cannot be
extinguished!

(Inspired by Bharathi's Agni Kunju)

From @PennyKinned:
He tipped the urn, scattering the ashes into the valley. The wind picked up the specks, each one a different memory. Glimmering laughter, cosy evenings, heated arguments, endless walks, explosive lovemaking, soul-searching conversations, warm cuddles, unflinching support… The ashes disappeared with the breeze, taking with them a lifetime of love. He stood still, now alone.

From @bhagsy:
It was melancholic day. Everyone around me was either crying or with puffy eyes from all the crying. It was an out of the body experience, watching the casket of my friend's body being lifted in to the crematorium. We stood around watching the smoke come through the chimney and to collect the ashes afterwards.