Sometimes I sit for hours, watch stars
scratch garbled scripts.
The spider’s web on the night lamp
sways in the breeze.
One branch of a Neem tree touches the window
sill, behind the hedge there is a sleeping dog.
Cigarette smokes turn coils, a sudden silence,
the flowers are yellowed in the pot.
Long distance trains’ whirr stops abruptly
I hear rain, a nightbird calls.
There are things not in the picture,
a line of leaves above a door dries up.
Darkness is a soft touch; I hide my poems
in an envelope of stone.
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Gopal Lahiri
@gopallahiri
Picture Nick Victor
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Short Bio:
Gopal Lahiri is a bilingual poet, critic, editor, writer and translator with 31 books published, including eight solo/jointly edited books. His poetry and prose appeared in more than one hundred journals and anthologies globally His poems are translated in 18 languages and published in 16 countries. He has been nominated for Pushcart Prize for poetry in 2021.