Seditious river In the hushed silence of the Seditious river Along the overgrowth The sail boat raises An ominous finger Pointing towards the Darkening sky And, sets upon A journey to nowhere. Memories weigh upon Its underbelly Fire in its loins But, neither light, nor smoke The seething fire of woods Drenched in the evening showers. I return to where I hole up A weather torn cottage anon Emaciated toilers in the fields of grains Hungry bowls Carried by the quadrupeds Like the unmanned boat Tethered to the silent river. This is my abode A quagmire of webs Which finds its echoes In other, inexorable webs . Hunger has cast a web of Strong, sinews of the Slipping spider Saliva and the silence . And, the last magic of the Azure sky Peeping through the Mouth of my cave . I’m the same person Whom you met in the summer A bit flawed and curved Like the paintings in the cave But still, clasping my hands At the sight of a single sparrow . I know, it doesn’t make a summer And now, I’ve let my sail boat free It used to groan like a tethered beast When anchored and fed.
  • Subroto Chatterjee