Coming down out of the dense blue firmament
the white bird touches the green earth, shuts
its eye and smell the grass on the roadside.
Ignoring the watchful gaze of the autumn sky
the shimmering feathers drip drop by drop,
water-like dreams and dream-like water.
Here in my room, leaning over the table
I scribble your name in the margins,
the colour of the morning still lingers.
The city is still under cooling-off period.
I collect each day of life in a box, fold them
In silence and tuck them out of sight
in some dark corner of the store room.
Days bleed into nights echoing the city.
I have been living in this room for years,
longing surges through me with tears
books that I read, music that I listen to,
hold them close to my heart.
Sometimes I write a few lines on my city
in ruins, like a shot in a feature film.
Sometimes my words sketch a sky of dreams
at the touch of my magic pen.
Gopal Lahiri
Gopal Lahiri is a bilingual poet, critic, editor, writer and translator with 32 books published, including eight solo/jointly edited books. His poetry and prose are published across more than one hundred fifty journals and anthologies globally His poems are translated in 18 languages and published in 16 countries. He has been nominated for Pushcart Prize for poetry in 2021. He has been conferred First Jayanta Mahapatra National Award on literature in 2024 for his significant contribution in Indian English Writing. His collection of poems ‘Alleys are Filled with Future Alphabets.’ has received Pan Asian Ukiyoto awards. His Selected Poems will be published soon. His collection of selected poems was published recently.
