I fall again into the unknown maze,
where pities do swarm,
like unruly worms in deep darkness.
What can I do
if the waves get hurt when the sky cries?
How recalcitrant we are!
At dawn we dream life to be
the clear water of a busy stream,
at night again dream life to be swifter than ever.
When this ‘we’ becomes I,
I felt alone, fight with myself,
there are many shells many devils in me,
who try to kill, to torture, to destroy
the part that hurts most, that disturbs much,
that ruins me apart, that cries in fear, in silence.
Is it in me or in you? I know not.
I know not to kill myself or to kill you,
still I know things among few—
that I am a sky colourless,
a water waveless, a lyre tuneless,
a body boneless, or a life breathless,
without the bitter feelings of you.
I cry each time I smile,
I fall each time I stand,
I am hurt each time I love,
I die each time I revive;
Yet I waited, restless, and still waiting.
Passed million seconds and millions to pass still,
perhaps, to the fall of last human tear,
to the last drop of drying oceans,
just to embrace the presumptuous moment,
the slithering second of past and present
to catch it in the unpredictable future.
Yet I ran, tireless, and still running,
perhaps to the aching moment,
till all the gentlest memories of my youthful love
would be a yesterday’s child’s play
on the dusty lane of unforgiving days.
Poet’s Bio: Abhijit Maity teaches English Literature in a college affiliated to Vidyasagar University. Born in a remote village in India, he finds literary inspiration from natural landscapes in this countryside and the poverty-stricken villagers. His special interests in academic space include Psychoanalysis, Identity Politics, Gender Studies and post-colonialism.