Gopal’s evocative poem tells us about a silent room that invites contemplation on existence and silence, and more – exclusively for Different Truths.  

1.

that room is empty for so long,
a void a calmness a silence
weaving an unheard story
ready for unlock.

let there be a plot.
no me no you.

think about it.

2.

everyone must be somewhere.
you sound like a mourner,
you stop.

you think about silence, it goes
on calling, it leaves you,
and flies out.

over the cornfields
searching and searching
over the river
over the universal darkness.

silence never lets you down.

3.

something is burning somewhere,
your body in flames,
slowly,
we breathe you in dense fume,

angst in the form of shrapnel,
insert them in our legs,
we will still run, run to the danger.

sunset, crimson, blood,
your colour,
if you are a poem
what poem you will be?

Picture design by Anumita Roy

Gopal Lahiri

Gopal Lahiri is a bilingual poet, critic, editor, and translator with 33 books, including eight edited volumes. Anthologised in over 150 journals and anthologies worldwide and translated into 18 languages across 17 countries, he has received the Setu Excellence Award, a Pushcart Prize nomination, a Best of the Net nomination, the First Jayanta Mahapatra National Award, and First Prize at the 43rd World Congress of Poets. His Selected Poems was published by Classix, New Delhi.