An Ode to Death by Daud Kamal ( Pakistani Literature )

          Pakistani Literature 

An Ode to Death by Daud Kamal

Short Summary & Critical Analysis :

This is a lyrical poem in which our Pakistani Poet,  Daud Kamal, has described his personal feelings and thoughts. The main idea or theme of this poem is the ultimate reality of death. In the opening lines of his poem,  Daud Kamal quotes the words of Conrad Aiken that our death can occur in the mere lifting of a single eyebrow. He tries to broaden our minds by making us aware of the certainty of death so that we can get prepared for the eternal world. He knows that people are so involved in this worldly life as if they are going to live here forever but unfortunately everyone has to face death. The distance between our life and death is so small that it can be covered within a few seconds.

In the beginning, he also shares the viewpoint of E.E Cummings that death is more certain but the needles of the clock don’t stop for anyone. Undoubtedly, human beings love their family and friends and they cry a lot when someone from them leaves this world. They spend days and nights in grief by remembering them but with the passage of time, we see a gradual decrease in their emotional feelings and sentiments for their beloved ones. As time is a great healer so they start to continue their normal routines as they were living before. No doubt losing a loved one is a great loss but people can not stop breathing or stop living as the needles of the clock don’t stop at any person’s death.

The poet says that as every particle of carbon has a dream to become a diamond, the same is the case with human beings. They also have very high dreams that grow stronger and stronger with every passing day. They are all following their dreams to achieve more success and money for their pleasant lifestyle. But every carbon particle’s dream doesn’t come true. So human beings should not be so sure that all their dreams and hopes would cone true because death is very cruel and it can take away anyone’s life at any time. Death is like a cruel monster who is going to eat people in a single bite. People are working so hard to live a luxurious life in this world forgetting that their life and this world are temporary and both of these can be ended at any time. He says that pomegranate is the world and its seeds are the high hopes and luxuries of this world. People are blindly following their dreams but no matter how much time it takes but there would come a day when all these luxuries and this world would come to an end. There is no need to work so insanely and passionately for a world that is nothing more than a spider web. Its existence can be turned into complete chaos whenever destiny wants it to be.

In the next lines, Daud Kamal makes a comparison of a big pine tree that was blasted by last year’s thunderbolt, with his burned matchsticks in his ashtray. He says that a pine tree is very big and these matchsticks are very small but they have the same ending as they both have tasted the flavor of death. Here if we think critically then we can analyze that rich and poor people are exactly the same as they are all human beings and death is certain for both rich and poor. Death shows no mercy for any person whether he is a rich businesses man or a poor man living on the street.

Then the poet addresses the person who is on his death bed saying that he can feel his sinking pulse. Generally, it is considered that hair and bones take more time to dissolve than other parts of the body so the poet asks the question that how much time your bones and hair would take to dissolve in the grave? He is not sure of himself to be alive until that time to see it. No one can give a guarantee for his life as death has not promised us the timing of its arrival. It will come whenever it wants to come. Our human existence is the combination of the body and soul. The love for this existence has made us forget about the ultimate reality of death. The relationship between death and life is like the relationship between our eyes and tears. We don’t know when our eyes would bring tears similarly we have no idea when our soul will move towards death. As the tears flow rapidly from our eyes, our death would move towards us at the same speed. We can see death in a single blink of our eyes.

In the next lines, Daud Kamal has beautifully depicted a picture of the grave after death. He says that there is an extensive group of islands of naked rocks and there is silence everywhere. Actually, he presents here the Islamic point of view about eternal life after death. He says that there is a peaceful atmosphere in the graveyard and there are no worries and tensions of this worldly life. Everyone is sleeping peacefully and there is no space for grief, tensions, and troubles as people had to face them when they were alive. He then remembers his past life when he himself was involved in some bad habits for which he feels guilty whenever he gets the flashback of these memories. He says that everything has to end one day as death is the ultimate reality which everyone has to face sooner or later. The poet feels that his death is near but he can’t do anything about it. He tries to think reasonably saying that he should forget all those unpleasant things which are making him feel guilty because he can’t do anything now. So the best way is to forgive and forget whatever is bothering him from his past experiences.

In the last four lines, the poet expresses his feelings when he thinks that his life is going to an end. He feels the presence of death as it is coming to take his soul away from his body. He addresses himself and wonders if he is going near towards death or death is coming towards him. He is having a conversation with life that whether he was on the floating island or his life was on the shore. Either life moved away from him or he moved towards death. The poet says that no one knows either his life is a deceiver or death is the deceiver. But one thing is for sure, our death is the ultimate reality which should not be forgotten merely for the sake of this temporary world. Every soul shall have to taste death whether he wants to taste it or not.