GOPAL LAHIRI, INDIA (Peace Poem)

Gopal Lahiri

Armistice

A few words, a few lines about poetry

I already know by heart; I test it live.

Spatial metaphors for the unknown, unseen,

the beat of a surreal clock from a distant temple.

Memory and silence, if only there is a summer rain

You can erase the alphabets of suffering.

At this point of time in this stillness

And a narrow river flowing in my sleep

Between light and dark in this space

Sounds of bell tell the hour and minute.

Something is singing on the branch

The world is like a sky within us

Life knows much more than war and conflict

It’s all bliss, it’s all peace at the end.

Reward

This morning a single bird glides in the air

above the water. Thin and yellow wings.

It vanishes on the other side, it appears again

then begins to descend slowly, then it is gone

For something to do on a summer day, a squirt

of clouds drops fingers of rain on petunias

Turn off the news, erase every line of the wars,

conflicts, cyclone, viruses, skirmishes.

Discount the exile years, a series of yesterdays,

peel the memories, those sleepy and misty eyed.

Walk down the streets, so often looking up

At window sill, the rufescent past flutters there.

Imagine, our togetherness, under the blue sky

It suffices, a moment of recompense and peace.

Profile:

Gopal Lahiri is a bilingual poet, critic, editor, writer and translator with 29 books published, including eight solo/jointly edited books. His poetry and prose are published across various anthologies globally. His poems are translated in 16 languages. He has been nominated for Pushcart Prize for poetry in 2021, He has received Setu Excellence award in poetry. His latest collection of poems ‘Alleys are Filled with Future Alphabets.’ has received Pan Asian Ukiyoto award.

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Setu, September 2023 :: Peace Poem