Dr Tirthankar’s poem, exclusively for Different Truths, craves tranquillity, a hushed city, and chosen solitude, shunning restless silence.

Let the dews wet the morning trail,
Petals drop on the lonely road.
Give me back the loneliness of the evening breeze
After the hush of the departing brood, 
 
Give me back the silence of the evening sky,
Where the stars, like an unknown alphabet,
Inscribe the poem, distant and sad,
Across a rapidly darkening slate.
 
Give me back the silence of a city
That fell asleep like a tired child
Near a river that tossed and turned
Till it flowed like a country rill.
 
Give me the silence of my choice.
Not of the kind that keeps me awake,
Like a prisoner in a cell waiting
For a noisy day to break.

Picture design by Anumita Roy

Tirthankar Das Purkayastha

Tirthankar Das Purkayastha (b. 1956) is a Professor of English (retired) at Vidyasagar University, West Bengal, India. He has so far published three books of poetry in Bengali and many scholarly articles in academic journals. His translations of poems by Sunil Gangopadhyay have been published, with the poet’s approval, in South Asian Review and Indian Literature, a Sahitya Akademi journal. He has been regularly publishing poetry in all the leading journals of West Bengal.