DECOMPOSITION

Zulfikar Ghose

I have a picture I took in Bombay

of a beggar asleep on the pavement:
grey-haired, wearing shorts and a dirty shirt,
his shadow thrown aside like a blanket.

His arms and legs could be cracks in the stone,

routes for the ants' journeys, the flies' descents,
Brain-washed by the sun into exhaustion,
he lies veined into stone, a fossil man.

Behind him there is a crowd passingly

bemused by a pavement trickster and quite
indifferent to this very common sight
of an old man asleep on the pavement.

I thought it then a good composition

and glibly called it "The Man in the Street,"
remarking how typical it was of
India that the man in the street lived there.

His head in the posture of one weeping

into a pillow chides me now for my
presumption at attempting to compose
art of his hunger and solitude.

Notes

This poem is about a photograph of a beggar in Bombay. The poet takes a photograph of this man
and admires what a good composition it was. Afterwards, he notes how indifferent the passersby
are to the suffering of this man; they are pre-occupied with a pavement trickster and nobody takes
note of the man lying on the pavement. Only later does his conscience make him aware of his own
lack of compassion and he is revolted by his actions.

It can be said that in the first four stanzas the beggar is de-humanised. He is reduced to an object,
“a journey for the ants”, “a fossil man”, a mere composition for an artistic photograph. People do
not see his as a fellow human being deserving of compassion. He fades into the background as if
he were a crack in a pavement.

In the last stanza the man in the street is humanised as the poet sees him as a person. He notes
how the man’s posture is of one weeping into a pillow and he suddenly realises that it was wrong
to “compose art” out of another’s suffering.

Tricky words:

Bemused - lost in thought / preoccupied / bewildered

Indifferent - without interest or concern / not caring
Glibly - thoughtlessly, superficially, or insincerely
Chide - to express disapproval of; scold; reprimand

Answers to questions

1. The word decomposition describes a state of decay, but the poet speaks of a composition
(creating or building something up). There is a paradox here. The poet is preoccupied with
the aesthetic value of the composition, but he doesn’t notice that the man’s life is in a state
of decomposition. The title can also be seen as a reflection on society. There is a
“decomposing” or break-down of society when we do not take not of the people suffering
around us.
2. The poet uses everyday conversational language to get his point across simply and clearly.
It is as if he his relating a story or memory. It allows him to create a very descriptive image
of the man in the street.

3. The visual image “he lies veined into the street, a fossil man” encourages sympathy from
the reader because we become aware how this man has become dehumanised. He is
reduced to a crack in the pavement. A fossil is evidence of a life once lived. This also
reminds us that perhaps there was life there once – this man has a story, but all that
remains is a lifeless shape on the pavement.

4. The poet regrets glibly calling the photo “The man in the Street” because he suddenly
becomes aware that he was part of the crowd that paid no notice to this man’s suffering. He
tried to make art (and initially felt quite proud of himself) out of another person’s hunger and
solitude. He was not compassionate and feels that perhaps we as a society have become
too desensitized to the suffering of other people.