The mask

mask in between

birth and death

suffocates life 

within a jail of titles 

panting for breath 

Let's give grace a chance

I am deliberately loosening my sharpness to talk

to an intelligent person

like you, I know that the

"The devil can cite Scriptures for [their] purpose"

You talk so sweet, but your actions do not coalesce.

I'm losing all the sharpness. Let there be

a permanent space between the two of us.

Let's give grace a chance.

I have Him to embrace,

That pure love and solace.

madness

 deliberate thinking

the only skill

worth learning

the rest is

insanity 

war is on

war is on

truth the only

casualty 

A piece of furniture

 

It is a table
with me for several
years,

my grandparents
brought it home,
they died long ago,

I learned to read, write,
lean, stand, eat on it, 
it had also gone places,
with me,

saw its stiffness, its
strength slowly turning
into softness,

the apron, the legs,
the stretcher,

yet it hadn't lost
its shine
by being what it is,

I see the wounds
'I love you', 'I hate you'
written on its top with
the compass needle,

I'd marvel at its
outstanding support
when I struggled hard 
to write my poems on peace
on it, if I wrote in French,
I'd be obliged to refer
to it as 'her',

now I love it blindly 
when I'd hear the sound of 
my granddaughter writing 
a, b, c on her spiral notebook,
or, in time, when she'd wrongly
spell peace as 'piece', it surprised
her when I explained
to her the meaning, 

she laughed, I heard a 
swinging sound,
I knew where it came from

lifesaver

lifesaver 

I find a home

in the sadness

of your eyes,

a nest in your

unkempt hair;

I find a home

in the middle

of brutal wars,

a house in the rubble

of an earthquake;

a river flows through

the restlessness of

your skin, I draw

a dream tree, hanging

juicy fruits, of past

bitterness,

I imagine

falling asleep;

inside my heart

there's an unoccupied

garden, green, serene,

pristine, built

with warm words

so

easy to love

difficult to hate

we're brainy people

so

peace, a cheap cattle

war, a white elephant 

we're exorbitant 

so

innocence has no

thrill,

crime needs intelligence

we're educated, sapient

so

difficult to own up

easy to blame

we take it easy

so

challenging to share

facile to snatch

we take it easy

so

difficult to act

effortless to say

we're a tad lazy

so

global warming

global warming

since time immemorial we've exploited

the forgiving flora and fauna,

overworked the benevolent stars,

milked the cattle;

we've colonised the

world and its cousin,

never emulated them,

nor understood their warmth,

with this baggage

we're trying to crack

global warming

a blue horror 

little wonder that

we're all over the place

born stranger

in the world of 

lovelessness,

all forms of art

become a

stillborn pain,

they're born

nevertheless 

as strangers 

to rage war against

destruction

চুপকথা

 

আমি চুপকথা শিখছি

বেশ লাগছে

এই রূপকথার দেশে

কোন বিচার নেই বৈষম্য নেই

আছে একরাশ উষ্ণ অনুভূতি

নেই কোন রীতিনীতি

আছে সবুজ শৈশব-এর অবুঝ

সরল শিক্ষার আহুতি

আছে নিরন্তর ক্রন্দন-এর জল-এ

ধুয়ে যাওয়া কথার বিষ

এক অব্যক্ত অমৃত-এর হদিস

এ এক অনুপম নেশা

তুলতুল-এ ভালবাসার মেঘে

ভাসা, কথা হীন ভাষা-র

সাম্রাজ্যে যাওয়া আসা