I love my city’s unique identity- hesitant,
flawed and fragmented.
In the faint light of the street lamp, I invite
the ghosts of yesteryears.
One of the two roads that led to my house,
may be the shortest, go to the sleep early.
In the night, the other one stays awake,
redeeming the day’s noise and bustle.
In that absence of noise, in that touch of the dark
candlestick, in the puppet figures of sand,
I know that the rest of the house is still
asleep in the bed, in the bamboo mat.
One can’t touch me now, I have no dreams,
no memoirs, no recollections,
in another moment, I feel like swimming
in a torrent of moonlight.
I see the land caving, an earthquake is raging,
a volcano spewing lava at my door.
I am on my feet, I feel a certain pride for my city.
death is now lying spreadeagled beside me.
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.
