“They only burn themselves to reach Paradise”
– Mne. Nhu

original courage is good,
motivation be damned,
and if you say they are trained
to feel no pain,
are they
guarenteed 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.

Analysis, meaning and summary of Charles Bukowski's poem On The Fire Suicides Of The Buddhists

1 Comment

  1. M Simmons says:

    My understanding is that this poem was written about the buddhist monks that protested the Vietnam War by silently sitting in public places and setting themselves on fire, specifically it refers to people that made light of their protests by inferring that the monks had meditated to an enlighted state so would not feel the pain of burning to death.
    You can feel the anger and respect in the prose

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Do you have any comments, criticism, paraphrasis or analysis of this poem that you feel would assist other visitors in understanding the meaning or the theme of this poem by Charles Bukowski better? If accepted, your analysis will be added to this page of American Poems. Together we can build a wealth of information, but it will take some discipline and determination.