An experience

I close my eyes
I sense my surroundings
let me go

I am in the body
I feel the legs, the ankles,
I gently ask the knees to relax
I instruct the thighs to pause
the groins, the lower abdomen,
they heave a sigh of relief
I beseech the belly, the chest
to rest

the tired shoulders I implore them
not to move
the neck abides
the eyes, the pupils, the eyebrows,
the forehead, the head
I breathe throughout the body

it is seated on the bed
the bed in the room, the room
in the apartment, a part of E-17

E-17, I vividly feel is a part of
the neighborhood, Behala,
a portion of south Kolkata,
the city is a part of West Bengal,
the state a part of India,

the country, a part of Asia
isn’t Asia part of the world
I ask, yes the I in me quickly
replies
this world I now know is a part
of the universe

from the universe, I travel through
the stars, the galaxies, the milky ways

I find myself, I lose myself
what an ataraxy I experience
all belong to me, all are mine
no bar, no offense, no fence

with my eyes closed, I travel back
my universe, my world, my country,
I come back to my E-17, the space I call
my home
I feel connected in this peace
there’s peace, there’s peace
everywhere I touch is my home
I call all of it my home
that’s it and this is it
in this journey
there isn’t an iota of conflict

I open my eyes
what did I lose
what did I gain
I don’t know but
I promise I’ll close my
eyes, come and go

again and again