In this Gopal’s haibun, for DifferentTruths.com, valedictory echoes of summertime love meet profound, luminous, and soul-stirring snapshots of eternity.
We come out in the sun and walk along. You pick up my last letter and start reading. You read it aloud. Each word is said slowly, so nothing drops out. I pluck a red hibiscus from the roadside plant and place it against the sunlight to see what’s left, what’s assured, and what can be forgiven.
We carry the letter and the flower down the square. We touch our hands. They are cold even in the month of June. You will now cross the road and go to the other side to take a bus that goes to the station.
summertime
the shape of love
uncatalogued
One by one, we release our hands and smile back; you walk across and walk alone. A wafture, an assuaged goodbye. I know the door is closing. Not sure if we will meet at all in the future, I wait for destiny’s plea.
you are still around
somewhere close
I sit here silent
Picture design by Anumita Roy
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.
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