Poetry: Rajorshi Patranabis

Rajorshi Patranabis

Mask

Covered my face, a coloured cloth

Sealed my mouth, back and forth, 

Masked my words with corked embrace 

Timeless tune, lie in grace. 

Closed my nostrils, breathe to live

Veiled freshness, reality grieve, 

Masked inhale in fragrant smell

Truth lies in anarchial trail.

Closed my eyes to escape the glare

Flaunt my darks, newfound flair, 

Masked my vision to avoid abrasion 

Sunlight dims, cloudless aberration. 

Bleeding to live, truthfully whole

My innocent heart, my unmasked soul.

***

Distortion 

Looked at your eyes 

Saw myself there

My right on your left

Left on your right.

My nose was yours

Meaninfully breathing 

Inhaled you

Exhaled me.

Surprisingly found

A heart on your right too

Left throbbed 

Right rhymed.

Realised 

I am in you

Deep in you

Mirror of aberration? 

Virtual distortion? 

Realistic unison 

 Heart lives.

***

Abundance 

Don't look for order in abundance 

Abundance creates its own order, 

Don't look for clarity in darkness 

Darkness creates its own clarity. 

Don't look for divisions in identity 

Identity creates its own divide, 

Don't look for lust in love

Love makes its own lust.

I look for you in my dark depth 

Depth glows in your flickering flame

I look for a daylit night

Night, burnt by the sleeping sun.

Wave of rhymes, rules, orders and you

You fill my abundance.

***

Stain

Plinth of oblong screen

Foundations smile insane 

White boasts its lost stain. 

Touched your waving lips 

Drank your nectar

Dreamy eye's puritan dream

Sinful pleasures, touched up pain. 

White boasts its lost stain. 

Colours of your eyes

That made love to me

Kafir fades in ecstasy 

Truthful cadence, fake refrain. 

White boasts its lost stain.

***

Rolled Over

We met first in heaven 

You, with the apple

And I, with some hope

I tasted you, nights rolled over. 

We met last in solitude 

You, with count of stars

And I, with memories of the last

I touched you, eternal longings rolled over.

We met in circles of intoxications

You, as my love, my longing, my lust

And I, as your dream, your muse, your mission 

We mingled in faces, phases, times rolled over.

Through graves and pyres, hymns and choirs, 

Our children wait for us, we rolled over.

***

Bio: Rajorshi Patranabis is a bilingual poet and translator. A food consultant by profession, his poems have appeared in many national and international journals and anthologies.

The Crossover - Love beyond Eternity is his collection of English poems.

Feriwala is his collection of Bengali poems

Norjon Soikot -Luit Hooghly is a translation project of Bengali and Assamese poetry, wherein he has translated and his Bengali work has been translated. This collection is releasing very soon in the near future.

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Setu, October 2020