PRANAB GHOSH - POEMS

Pranab Ghosh is a journalist, writer, poet, translator and blogger. He used to write a blog “Existential Problems”. His poems and prose piece have been published and accepted by Tuck Magazine, Transendent Zero Press, Scarlet Leaf Review, Literature Studio Review, Leaves of Ink, Hans India, Dissident Voice, Spillwords, The Piker Press, Setu Magazine, Pangolin Review, Visual Verse, Memoryhouse etc. He has coauthored a book of poems, titled Air & Age. He has to his credit a translation of a book of Bengali short stories. The title of the English translation is Bougainvillea and Other Stories. His second book of poems and first solo book “Soul Searching and Other Poems” has been published by Scarlet Leaf Publishing, Toronto, in 2017. He is married and lives in Kolkata with wife, daughter and mother.

Adieu Aunt

​The phone rang. It was 10 o’clock on
A Thursday morning.
 
“Your aunt has left,” aunt Cyrus was on
The other side of the telephone.
 
“Where did she go? It’s lockdown going on now!”
“She left us all,” Cyrus’ voice became blurred.
 
She did not attain the age to die, yet she
Died and not of coronavirus.
 
The corona lockdown failed to hold her
Back in this world…

​…………………………………………………………………………………………
 
She had hopes, she had
Aspirations.
 
The day her daughter was
Born she dreamt of her
Glorious future, a future
That will take away and
Throw in the litter bin
Many of her shortcomings,
As a student, as a daughter…
 
But her dreams began to
Wither away like leaves
Of a tree during winter…
 
And we thought her dreams
Were evergreen!
 
But her dreams began to
Disappear like a drop of
Water in a desert…
 
And we thought her dreams
Would be an oasis and
Shelter her!
 
She lost favor with her husband
And her daughter couldn’t stand
A semi-literate mother!
 
Alone she spent her days
In her brother’s abode
Like an island in the family.
 
Today a deluge submerged the
Isle
 
And a dream disappeared from the
Face of the earth
Forever!
 
And I stole my tears
And hid it inside
My
Heart…

​No Shoulder To Cry On!

​Where from did all the questions
Come?
 
Where to did all the answers
Go?
 
Where from did that smile
Come?
 
Where to did all the tears
Go?
 
And most of the questions
She asked had no answers
 
And most of the answers
We gave had no meaning
 
Then she formed her own
Answers
And endured her pain with a
Smile
 
When tears rolled down her
Cheeks
She patted her back and consoled
Herself
 
Island that she became in the family,
She had no shoulders to cry on!
 

Now No More…!

I will meet her no more…
 
No more will she call out
My name
 
No more will I answer in
Anticipation of a smile
 
No more will any sigh
Escape her
 
No more will she pine
For that lost husband
 
No more will she cry
For the daughter, who
Could never become hers…
 
No more…
No more…
No more…
 
No more will she remember
Her first love
 
No more will she remember
Her first love letter
 
No more will she steal a tear
From our eyes
 
No more…
No more…
No more…
 
No more will she bother
Anyone…
 
No more…
 
No more will anyone have to
Keep his/her date with her in hospital
 
No more…
 
Time has stolen her away
Once and for all.