In this poignant poem, Gopal states that morphine provides solace amidst hunger and suffering to keep love alive, exclusively for Different Truths. 

I ate garbage day and night.
In those days, if I was lucky,
got leftover cold rice and salt.
that would make my day.

All were visible and all illusive.

I had a bigger heart than anyone.
then my lover was there.
we used to share our food.
we had no money.

We did not count our pain.

Once or twice a week
I got beaten black and blue
for stealing hot biriyani or lukewarm 
Chow mien from roadside food stalls.

My heart was tongue then.

All the love is gone now.
We lived on our miasma,
the morphine of our cracked bones.
half for me, half for her.

My heart cannot go on any longer.

I do not know, then,
how much one hand is like another hand,
the hand that torments 
or rights our wrong.

Hunger is the only story I know.

Picture design by Anumita Roy

Gopal Lahiri

Gopal Lahiri is an India-based bilingual poet, critic, editor, writer, and translator with 23 books published, including four jointly edited books. His poetry is also published across various anthologies as well as in eminent journals of India and abroad. He has been invited to various poetry festivals including the World Congress of Poets. He is published in 14 countries and his poems are translated into 15 languages.

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