In this reflective poem, Debarati, amidst the twilight’s tranquillity, memories, and questions, embarks in search of a home – exclusively for Different Truths.

As dusk settles on the treetops
My languid dreams perch on the sky’s bosom.
Under the canopy, my weary eyes
Look for yet another lost road.
The highway lights blurred with the sudden rain.
Yesteryears, look for shade under the banyan tree.
A dilapidated house beckons me.
Its corridor seems known to me
Like some blurred memory with
A layer of dust on it.
A scorching city rests for a while
After being drenched in a rainbow spell.
The vehicles rush to return home
As the night’s monochrome runs behind them.
Their desires get entangled with the highway’s dust.
A speck of longing here and there
After the first right turn there, I will reach my house.
With the same old question in mind:
After how many travels can I
Return to a home and not a house?
The walls burst into silence.
I watered my indoor pants.
Water trickles down on the copper plate
Just like pieces of night trickling down
On the highway, vehicles are
Running towards home.
I rest in loneliness.

Picture design by Anumita Roy

Debarati Sen

Debarati Sen, an award-winning poet from Kolkata, published two solo poetry collections and contributed to more than 10 anthologies. She has recently made it to the top 50 poets in the NaPoWriMo 2023 writing challenge, and her poem, ‘Maple Dreams’, has been selected for the Yearbook 2022 to be published by Hawakal Publishers. Her haiku have been published in Haikuniverse, Five Fleas, Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, Suspect Device, Pan Haiku Review, and the Horror Senryu journal.