Post Mortem Poem by Gieve Patel
Post Mortem
It is startling to see how swiftly
A man may be sliced
From chin to prick,
How easily the bones
He has felt whole
Under his chest
For a sixty, seventy years
May be snapped,
With what calm
Liver, lung and heart
Be examined, the bowels
Noted for defect, the brain
For haemorrhage,
And all these insides
That have for a lifetime
Raged and strained to understand
Be dumped back into the body,
Now stitched to perfection,
Before announcing death
As due to an obscure reason.
[From: Poems; Publisher: Nissim Ezekiel, Mumbai, 1966]
Dead body! Silence in court. Thanks for sharing this poem with us.
A man may be sliced before announcing death! grimace face of post Morten
A poem of unique theme! On the one side, it is how we care about our body to remain whole and kicking, on the other side how this body becomes valueless for others, particularly the ones who do postmortem on the body to find out the cause of death.
The process of postmortem along with it's revelation beautifully elaborated making the poem worthy of selection as modern poem of the day.
Very realist and slightly dark. Are you perchance a coroner or doctor? As you say, it is the insides of a person that have tried to understand. A 'gut' feeling and more than that.
There are many who do not give the subject of post-mortem and in-depth view. You did it, although dark, rather nicely. Congratulations on POD and thank you for sharing. : -)
Nice poem about how a post mortem is done by tearing the body apart and exposing parts inside. Enjoyed. Liked it.10+++
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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9/8/2025 2:54:29 AM # 1.0.0
Nor is there dignity for the dying in groan, Nor yet for the dead and gone, Post Mortem, a beautiful poem.