Charles Bukowski

On the Fire Suicides of the Buddhists

On the Fire Suicides of the Buddhists - meaning Summary

Sacrifice Versus Understanding

The poem confronts acts of self-immolation and the motives behind them. The speaker contrasts "original courage" with notions of training or ideology, questions whether such death is guaranteed to be painless, and asks if dying for another remains possible. The speaker rejects detached intellectual explanations and insists the visceral image of a burning red rose carries a deeper, irreducible meaning that resists sophistic rationalization.

Read Complete Analyses

"They only burn themselves to reach Paradise" Original courage is good, Motivation be damned, And if you say they are trained To feel no pain, Are they Guaranteed this? Is it still not possible To die for somebody else? You sophisticates Who lay back and Make statements of explanation, I have seen the red rose burning And this means more.

default user
PoetryVerse just now

Feel free to be first to leave comment.

8/2200 - 0