Rajashree’s poem explores the fleeting nature of life, highlighting the blending of sorrows and joys, exclusively for Different Truths.

The past
Vanishes like the morning dew,
And eyes get wet with tears for
memories that felt good.
 
The sorrows and the joy,
In an infinite domain of light and shade
illuminate our short sojourn
Under an unyielding firmness in cold coherence.
 
The mourners in their turn
Mourn adequately confirms them
bolted sympathy
Life slips into a sad graveyard
That sleeps underneath a grove
Murmurs in melancholy
With the passing of the spring wind.
 
The grave synchronises.
The poor and the rich, the kings and
his subjects
The Leader and his followers
The saints and the sages
Irrespective of cast, colour and creed
And trap them alike as the witnesses
of time.
 
Their ruptured trials to attain
immortality
Teach the descendants to live a life
Without fear and pain 
During the sojourn in this mortal
world.

Picture design by Anumita Roy

Rajashree Mohapatra

Rajashree Mohapatra, born in Odisha, has received her master’s degree in ‘History’, and ‘Journalism and Mass Communications’ from Utkal University. She is a teacher by profession. Being a postgraduate in ‘Environmental Education and Industrial Waste Management’ from Sambalpur University, she has devoted herself as a social activist to the cause of social justice, environmental issues, and human rights in remote areas through non-governmental organisations. Poetry, painting, and journalism are her passions.