Archaeological
Below my pillow, tram lines run their course,
And beside them, a new crematorium burns electric.
Those who come to fall asleep or to wake up there,
All faces seem somewhat familiar to me,
As if they have fallen from the same branch.
Underneath my pillow, a great city floats in slumber,
When the sun rises, the hustle and bustle of life begins.
A raft floats in that still stream.
I rewind this flow playfully—
Laughter rises from the well,
a crown’s cry echoes, and some ancient artefacts,
mystical chanting,
darkness…
I’ve brought the city into the womb-life;
With an old handkerchief, I wipe away its
Tears.
Medical
After enduring a hundred blood tests, this time when
you insert the needle, it’s not blood but a crescent
moon that swells in the syringe. The stream that has
silently flowed for so long, you place its slide under
the microscope. You fix your gaze on it. Seeds of
unyielding desires, their cancer-free cells, within
every atom, there are affirmatives and negatives and
countless other narratives, empty due to the absence of
a mediator; what else do you discern there— stubborn
clots, entangled fortitude, the shield of sugar?
Bilirubin...
Ah!
Psychological
All of them forgotten characters, not characterless—
these wanderers circle me. They are born, then lost in
the crowd of roles, like casual observers. When they
die, it’s they themselves who seek the lost souls, who
cried, who found grief?
Such wandering spirits roam around me these days.
They desire, consume, and indulge in Facebook with
great care, then disappear, in which brilliance?
In which forest?
Political
When life merges with art,
What remains of poetry, my love?
Look in the direction
Our country is gradually turning—
Westward.
When you board the local train,
When you walk alone amidst the evening crowd,
Hindered by the ‘we walk’ comfort,
It’s only for you that I wish to become a communist.
Otherwise, why should Jyoti Basu be honoured?
But every evening,
It’s you who crafts an unparalleled mise-en-scène.
In my city, amidst the white,
gradually thickening smoke,
It becomes denser...
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