SUDHANGSHU WON’T GO

From ransacked temples and torched ancestral homestead, 

A self-abnegating voice asks Sudhangshu, 

"Will you go away in the end?" At the end of the day,

Sudhangshu gropes in the ashes

Land documents, broken bangles, stunned vermillion cases,

And scattered strings of glass-beads bearing memories.

  

The voice says, "Plunderers subdue you, 

Shadows of beastly killers 

Wander around you every day, 

Terrified bats pass days under wings,

Yet don't go away, Sudhangshu."

 

Azure in the sky hasn't disappeared yet,

Decent trees still fly green flags,

Rivers full to the brim 

Curve waists like slender gypsy girls.

Leaving this holy land, 

Like a defeated soldier,

Sudhangshu will never go anywhere