Poetry: Sukanya Basu Mallik

Sukanya Basu Mallik

The rain drop

As the rain drops on my head,
It cools my tensed up scalp,
And trickles down my head
Descending upon my face,
Touching my forehead,
Eyelids, cheeks and chin,
Dry,
Impoverished!

It waits there till it next falls on my bosom,
Plum yet suckled.
It follows my stomach
And my womb that breeds life,
And flows through my legs up to my feet,
All thirsty and unfed ...

The little drop tries
To cure my needy body’s ailments
But it can’t
Owing to its small size,
And yet it tries!
It tries to feed the skin,
On which many fed,
It tries to quench the thirst-
Seldom met,
Until it too vanishes within the earth
Alike thousands of such explorers!
***


Banjaran

No home, no plan,
In this world full of people
I was a lonely wonderer
A banjaran, a nomadic woman.

Storms swept by,
I had no one,
Neither was I ever there for any,
But you…

I wrote and wrote,
For that was all I could do,
And thus I did.

I wrote and wrote,
For in this sea of endless possibilities,
You were my only boat,
The winds blew hard,
Yet you kept me from drowning!
throughout my journey,
you kept me from drowning.

When amidst all practical people
Well suited and booted,
I found no shelter,
You gave me one,
In the lap of your evergreen hope’s grass;
When I found no soul,
We became lad and lass!

The ink I spend in writing you into paper is like the chlorophyll to my leaves,
And the words that flow- like the anthocyanin to my petals,
For when the world left me bank,
You coloured my entire canvas,
In you this banjaran-
Dreams, lives and breathes!
***

Setu, March 2020