English

 

 CEASEFIRE

 

This isn’t the way to behave-

That isn’t the way to speak-

Nor is this the way to think of life-

Beyond good and bad of all logic, in another land,

Do I dissolve thus into the embracing mist

Measure by measure, will thus be engulfed

Into the deepest hearts of the mist.

Just a bit of time, that’s all I need-

Thus do I wish to dissolve

Into the deepest hearts of the mist.

Mapped across these nations all,

Have vanished all, these homes and hearths.

Nothing to bemoan, before this dispersal-

Barring, that touch, deep within

Waving the white cloth from across barbed wires.

In what deep mists are lost large lakes-

Burnt out homes, hilly terrains-

Lost too, are days of love

When fingers drew, over forms full

Beyond good and bad of all logic, in another land

Measure by measure, will thus be engulfed

Into the deepest hearts of this mist…

 

 

STRANGE MEETINGS

 

 

At this end of the dark lane, I wait-

6 houses beyond, not on the main road

But into crowds bounteous , would I step in-

From the first house, an agitated mother's voice

She shall leave this house, she says

Not a moment more in here.

The second house, as I go by in the dark, in the

Lit up verandah, I find

Like one abandoned, a measly child, crying,

In this house, there is none his own-

Someone must have taken him adopted. He too won’t stay.

In the next two houses, windows, as neighbours,

Meet, heart to heart-

The girl from this house, pallying

With the fellow from that house.

But no more the windows meet. They too shall go away,

Somewhere, they whisper.

The first son of the fifth house, has left

Somewhere, his job no more.

The old father, out, looking for him-

To the last house, large in spread,

I came up a few steps,

From within, none to be heard-

Ears pricked up, I attend closely-

Nope. Nothing at all.

Stepping out of the dark lane

I see, an ambulance, with a body¹

Out by the front door.

 

6 houses beyond, not on the main road

But into crowds forlorn, did I step in.

 

Glossary:

 

1. In colloquial parlance, refers to a dead body, a corpse