- Diksha Bijlani

Says a colleague at work.
She means the bodies in the news from India seem fewer.
Ive been productive, stopped sending donation links.

In these times, better is just another word for quiet.
The way I know grief is quiet.
So much sound when theyre breathing their last
So little when theyre gone.
Death leaves everything quieter.

India is better now. The parents have buried their children.
A man refused vacation days there is no mother to visit anymore.
Two best friends both lost a father grief gets no special attention anymore.

To cope with death we learned to expect it. Its better now.
Now were the ashes the funeral pyre left behind dark, scattered and quiet.