Page 44 - Poems
P. 44

*

                  It cannot be
                  That endurance knows
                  No limit

                  No limit
                  To the number of men who will
                  Attach themselves

                  To the outer edges of each
                  Compartment
                  No limit

                  To their disregard
                  For death
                  It cannot be

                  That two faces
                  Emerge
                  From this

                  Daily
                  Carnage
                  Wreathed in smiles

                                               *

                  There are twenty-three names I must list
                  Not the thousand and eight names of Durga
                  The thousand names for reindeer
                  The ninety-six names for love
                  The fifty names for snow
                  Just the twenty-three names I hadn’t foreseen
                  How could I
                  As I sat waiting for my train to Pune to arrive
                  On a platform besieged by locals
                  Where the long-distance train is just another
                  Interloper
                  Another rude
                  Interruption?
                                  Mukesh  Mishra  Shubhalata  Shetty  Sujata  Shetty  Sachin
                                  Kadam  Mayuresh  Haldankar  Ankush  Jaiswal  Jyotiba
                                  Chavan  Suresh  Jaiswal  Chandrabhaga Ingle  Teresa
                                  Fernandis  Rohit  Parab  Alex  Curia  Hilloni  Dedhia



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