Small Towns and Rivers
by Mamang Dai
Rapid Learn 2-Minute Revision
Perfect for last-minute revision
2-Minute Revision Video
Video coming soon
In this evocative free-verse poem from 'The River Poems', Mamang Dai reflects on life, death, nature and the eternity of the river, drawing on the beliefs of the tribal people of Arunachal Pradesh. Small towns, she says, 'always remind me of death'; her calm hometown lies amidst the trees, unchanging, and when someone dies, 'only the rituals are permanent'. In contrast to fleeting human life stands the river, which 'has a soul' and 'knows the immortality of water', flowing eternally from the first raindrop to mist on the mountaintops. She recalls childhood as 'a shrine of happy pictures', notes that small towns 'grow with anxiety for the future', and describes the tribal belief that the dead are placed 'pointing west' so that their souls may rise and 'walk into the golden east, into the house of the sun'. The poem gently blends grief, faith and a concern for nature, ending with the longing that 'in small towns by the river we all want to walk with the gods'.
Detailed Summary
Detailed Summary Video
Video coming soon
'Small Towns and Rivers' by Mamang Dai, from 'The River Poems', is a reflective free-verse poem about life, death and the eternity of nature, rooted in the beliefs of the tribal people of Arunachal Pradesh. It contrasts the transience of human life with the immortality of the river.
Small towns and death
The poem opens: 'Small towns always remind me of death.' The poet's hometown lies 'calmly amidst the trees', always the same in summer or winter. She recalls that 'just the other day someone died', and in 'the dreadful silence we wept' over 'the sad wreath of tuberoses'. Amid the cycle of 'life and death, life and death', she observes that 'only the rituals are permanent'.
The immortal river
Against fleeting human life, the poet sets the eternal river: 'The river has a soul.' In summer it 'cuts through the land like a torrent of grief', and sometimes seems to 'hold its breath seeking a land of fish and stars'. Stretching past the town, from 'the first drop of rain to dry earth and mist on the mountaintops', 'the river knows the immortality of water'. The river thus symbolises eternity and the undying spirit of nature.
Faith, anxiety and a longing for the gods
The poet remembers childhood as 'a shrine of happy pictures', but notes that 'small towns grow with anxiety for the future', a hint of concern about change and the loss of nature. She describes the tribal belief that 'the dead are placed pointing west', so that when the soul rises 'it will walk into the golden east, into the house of the sun'.
The poem closes gently and hopefully: 'In the cool bamboo, restored in sunlight, life matters, like this. In small towns by the river we all want to walk with the gods.' Blending grief, faith and reverence for nature, the poem expresses a deep longing for the divine and the eternal.