This is a prayer to you from this place of snow

Samiah Haque

Issue 13 • April 2014

This is a prayer to you from this place of snow.
Gone are the calls to salah at dawn. The train
rings louder. The horn goes once, goes twice.

When my grandmother died they buried her
in a white sari she wore for decades.
Mourning him, always. The ghat  beyond 

stilled. The ghat swallowed her daily.
In the darkness, gave her fish to lay 
bare on a table for her children

who come running, till the end. 
Come running. Running to you
calling: Ma! Ma! Ma!

A ghat refers to a series of steps leading down to a body of water, particularly a holy river. In Bengali-speaking regions, this set of stairs can lead down to something as small as a pond or as large as a major river.