Poetry

Aleek Manush

By

Pranab Ghosh

Demonetised Winter

The time that never was

stands in front of you

and questions your very

existence; your rights

usurped, you are denied

a chance even to explain.

It is winter. But it is

nothing like what winter

used to be. You stand

in the sun and sweat.

The question that keeps

turning in your head makes

you sweat more than the

December sun.

Your existence no longer

matters to them you

thought would care.

The semblance of

care that made you

stand still in front

of the time that never was

dissapears and you look

around to find unknown

faces going through the same

existential agony you thought

they would never recognise.

Power passes by, siren

hooting. Those in the

convoy look at you.

Was there pity in their

eyes for you and those

rotting under the sun?

Or was there a sense of

victory reflected in

those eyes that seem

to have by-passed the

time that never was?

The question turns in

your head. You look for answers.

Images crop up. Dead man

lying by the footpath,

his search for money

no longer a reality.

The agony continues for

others who will have to

live. It is for them the

time that will always be…

Dead Desire

Desire rises from the

depths of the naval;

The snake within

recoils; life shudders

as the parted lips

show a new earning

that skimmed the elixir

of life from the depths

of the ocean with the

eternal reptile recoiling

from the tug, bleeding

all over, its venom

exhausted.

Volcano erupted. Love

lay dead. Frigid

body shook from

the touch. Pent-up love

uncoiled and the

yearning dissolved in

the azure sea.

Sun gleamed above

the head. Hungry

souls danced in joy

for having escaped the

all encompassing flow

of the molten death.

They now float on the

ocean with sun sharing

with them the

testimony of life.

Desire lives, as pouts

morph into smile of

separated lovers reuniting

in life beyond death.

The snake lay dead

at the bed of the ocean.

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‘.