Poetry: Gopal Lahiri

Gopal Lahiri

By Gopal Lahiri

Homecoming

Not so sure about the greenery that flick past,
The shops of all colours, the mud pots, the combed road,
Still remembers the wide courtyard
Strewn with leaves and flowers,
The steep stairs without the railings and the
Curved lamp near the wooden door.
The windows shut,
The heaps of snail shells filling up,
Everything around is so hollow, so tranquil,
Somewhere a voice drifts in,
And the silence slips away like a silk cloak.
Standstill on the garden and the wetness creeps up,
The outhouse draped in dense foliage,
Flowers in rainbow colours rest on the tiles,
The shadows lurk under the mango tree and freeze,
In a world full of hope and despair,
The pace of time has swept all that into the past,
The marble floor is bathing in sun light,
The aroma of flowers wafts in,
A time to bury the past, a time to get on with life.
***

Canvas

Standing upright on their hind legs
The rabbits turn boldly to joy,
Filling the green cup with fire,
Spring isn’t far here.
Critics’ mind falls apart,
Skinny teenagers now see the swaths of blue flowers,
Where they stay unfiltered,
And be deafened by loud music,
Flapping of moths
against the cottage window,

Where the light needs it shadow
and darkness a hiding,
Where all begin and
Falling down again and again,
Billowing clouds of smoke on the up above.
Boats ready to sail, evening flushes from the horizon
Like sparrows from a hedge.
Sitting on a lamp post, a lonely crow
Picks up a pitcher from the canvas and shouts,
***

Trinity

1.
Back from the walk, we talk about
The fickle weather,
The palm leaves,
Coins spinning the air,
In the shame-less world,
The real reason now opens all its petals.

2.
No one trust you,
not even a leaf in the tree of hope,
If only they know
The unexplained smile,
The air feels distant,
The words are muted,
The night is in search
Of commas and semicolons,
Do they say anything at all?

3.
Between my fingers and palm
Time crumbles along,
Just want your eyes and warmth.
***

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Bio:
Gopal Lahiri was born and grew up in Kolkata, India. He is a bilingual poet, writer, editor, critic and translator and published in Bengali and English language. He has had seven collections of poems in Bengali and eight collections in English and edited one anthology of poems. He is the recipient of the Poet of the year award in Destiny Poets, UK, 2016. He can be reached at glahiri@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/glahiri

Setu, August 2018