Three Poems by Eminent Poet Gopal Lahiri from India

Three Poems by Eminent Poet Gopal Lahiri 

 

Tierce

 

1.

 

The screen is a flood of red streams,

this is how warmongers

capture the ribs and bones

and store in the gunny bag,

this is their sanctuary.

 

2.

 

All this is behind the sunlight,

shedding all myths and magic,

paper boats chase the childhood dreams

let it flow and drink in the fairy tales

years grow around the log houses.

 

3.

 

Delicate little boxes of intoxication

the sun is tentative between rising and setting,

looking for the molten clouds to settle

and the evening cools in memories,

arresting the window lights over the tiles.

 

@gopallahiri

…………………………………………………..

2. Unlatching Many Doors

 

In the hour of absolution, our bodies turn

into petals, waterlilies spill on our misread skin,

pushing away their own reflections.

 

The winter night is preparing for a riddle,

metaphors blur, then legible, then again come

distortions.

 

Words flow, words mumble without burning,

the Jamun tree roots in darkness,

An invocation, muttering, subpoenaing.

 

Sometimes all we want to break the shackles

and fly again to any other shelter,

 

Our collective memory unlatches many doors.

 

But home, we do not know what it is. We really

do not know where are those four walls.

 

©gopallahiri

………………………………………………..

 

3. Presence

 

You cast no light, your tongue goes dry,

voice is now barely a whisper.

 

Clink of teacups on saucers and the sound

breaks the bones and bury it alive.

 

Night is blank, passive, and cold

stars are moving in long shadows.

 

Orbs, flashes, and bursts layer over the landscape

a kind of sensate breathing portrait,

 

Your presence woven through the year,

standing tall even in the darkest rain.

 

The ocean brings blue, tapestries of eyes,

no fingers to grip at the end.

 

Words are so wild, it can never be spun

in the last hours of night.

 

©gopallahiri

………………………………………………….

 

Bio of the Poet:

Gopal Lahiri is a bilingual poet, critic, editor, writer and translator with 30 books published, including eight solo/jointly edited books. His poetry and prose are published across 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. He has received Setu Excellence Award, Pittsburgh, US, in poetry in 2020. He has been conferred First Jayanta Mahapatra National Award on literature in 2024 for his significant contribution in Indian English Writing. His collection of poems ‘Alleys are Filled with Future Alphabets.’ has received Pan Asian Ukiyoto awards.