An evocative protest poem, by Gopal, exclusively for Different Truths.

I learned to hold up the sky like grey clouds with its back,
letting turfs and buildings go under till the blue returns
to cover the earth.
 
Day roll into fire, leading to glare
Someone whispers resistance,
 
I keep the memory hidden in my closed palm
the seed they have destroyed.
 
Each swollen wounds, shadows waving back
how small, how brief,
 
I never speak of it, the difference, the anomaly
something is too high for syllables to speak.
 
Because in truth, I want to walk, to open again
the fire of my own heart
 
I know this, everything is done to let in light
no stained glass in the old window.
 
Hear nothing else, feel the smell
see nothing else, shut my eyes, feel nothing else
a voice that forces me to speak.

Visual by Different Truths

Gopal Lahiri

Gopal Lahiri is a bilingual poet, critic, editor, and translator with 33 books, including eight edited volumes. Anthologised in over 150 journals and anthologies worldwide and translated into 18 languages across 17 countries, he has received the Setu Excellence Award, a Pushcart Prize nomination, a Best of the Net nomination, the First Jayanta Mahapatra National Award, and First Prize at the 43rd World Congress of Poets. His Selected Poems was published by Classix, New Delhi.