A poignant poem by Dr Tirthankar transcends from the mundane to the cosmic – exclusively for Different Truths.

I spat out a seed,
and, behold, there’s a tree,
I gulped down my tears
and, lo, there’s poetry.

I know there’s no such thing as a miracle,
every effect has a cause,
and every cause, a debacle.

You either win or lose
what, to start with, wasn’t worth fighting for,
some lines in trenches lie,
some burst forth like sycamore.

I am convinced there’s a goddess somewhere,
insane, uncared for,
who wears in her unkempt hairs
straws, and calls them metaphors.

Picture design by Anumita Roy, Different Truths

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.