This poignant poem by Arindam traces a man’s lifelong, cyclical journey between finding and losing home.

He wasn’t alone in
his first home,
his mother’s womb.
It was a shared space
with a twin brother.
When he died, alone,
after 70 days,
which one
became homeless?
 
At two-and-a-half years
he was cast away
from home
to a Montessori school,
he howled and cried—
a homeless child,
for a few hours,
every day.
 
The gypsy in him
left home and
comfort.
he blew away
his security bubble,
in search of a
career in a metropolis
by the sea
 
he felt forsaken
forlorn, hungry,
tired, lost,
it was a choice
homelessness
 
he had burnt bridges
he could not return to
his parents’ home.
 
Growth in career,
a rented space
shared with a new spouse.
After four years,
his karmabhoomi
became a new home
 
now, they had
two homes
they went to a home
and returned
to another home
 
they were
borderless.
 
The demise of
his father
made them return
to their hometown
girdled by two rivers
on three sides
 
But they lost a home
by the sea.
 
Later, they moved
from home to home
like a bee
choosing brighter
better flowers –
 
through hills and valleys,
rivers and seas,
plateaus and plains
they travelled,
vacationed
and worked,
leaving homes,
embracing homes.
 
They lived an eternity
in a moment,
and saw the universe
in a handful of stars
 
Finally,
his mate and he
built a new home –  
they owned
a fistful of earth,
a slice of the sky
 
her illness
snatched her away
from him,
after nine years
into their haven.
 
The wheel had come
full circle.
With children
in a faraway place,
his home
became a house
and he,
a homeless,
once again
 
a living ghost
in an empty shell.
 
Frail health
and household chores
exhausted him
worried his children
they wanted him
with them.
 
Will it be
a clawed bit of earth,
a torn piece of sky?
 
Can he accept
a new home?
Can he stay alone?
Can he be
uprooted again?
 
A gypsy,
he is forever
homeless.

Picture design by Anumita Roy

Arindam Roy

Arindam Roy has over four decades of experience in various newsrooms of renowned media houses. He is the Founder, Publishing Director, Editor-in-Chief of Different Truths, and Kavya Kumbh Publishing Consultant (KKPC). He has co-authored ten chapters in six Coffee Table Books (CTBs) of national and international repute and is the sole author of four forthcoming CTBs (Times Group). He has also published four international poetry anthologies as the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, participated in several poetry and literary festivals, and won awards and accolades. Arindam co-authored the novel Rivers Run Back with an American writer. He stays in Bangalore and Prayagraj.