Poetry

AP photo

By

Pranab Ghosh

March

The sun is burning the earth;

water taps run dry at noon;

the pitch on the road melts

making your slipper stick

to it, as you file past

houses, malls, restaurants

and shops, carrying flags

and posters, raising slogan

against the oppressor,

the ruling combine that has

usurped men and women

of the right to protest.

You walk in a long queue

along one side of the road

so as not to disrupt traffic.

You sweat, your mouth runs dry,

but you froth to raise

your voice for your rights.

You walk with others

to bring change and justice.

You are part of a

procession, a rally

as you march ahead.

Mantra

Where would chant of mantras

take us to?

Cravings die inside us

as desire burns like wild fire

devouring our very dream.

We rush back to God

as if to implore Him

to step in and rescue us

from the catastrophe.

The chant saves our soul

as we gather strength

to live on.

Chant the hymn…

Chant the prayer…

Till you die

to live!

Pranab Ghosh

Pranab Ghosh is a journalist, writer, poet, translator and blogger. He writes a blog “Existential Problems”. He graduated from Scottish Church College, Kolkata, with Honours in English. He did his masters in Journalism from Calcutta University and has worked for such media houses as HT Media Ltd, Eenadu India etc. He has also written for Slant News, a US news portal and such publications as The Statesman, Economic Times, Ei Samay. At present he writes for Business India.

Currently he is also working as a research writer and Editor at Pratichi India Trust. He has co-authored a book of poems, titled ‘Air & Age‘. He has to his credit a translation of a book of Bengali short stories titled ‘Shantiramer Cha‘, by Bitan Chakraborty. The title of the English translation is ‘Bougainvillea and Other Stories‘.