The poem was composed on May 25, 1980, barely two years after my marriage with Bulli
the same alcove
I shed my loneliness in
reading prayers and psalms
chanting mantras in fumes
it is the same room
the same cement rack
crowded with earthen idols
of Ganesh and Lakshmi
worshipped last Diwali
it is the same altar
the same paper-Kali
framed in glass and
dusted with sindoor
my wife put each day
it is the same floor
the same four walls
God watched us sweeping
and purifying with Dhoopam
each evening before bed
it is the same prayers
the same pleasures
we rejoice with impulse
they savour as sacrilege
our rituals of lust and labour
it is the same incommunicado
the same swearing by coal*
in the dark alley
nothing had changed
and nothing changes
*Dhanbad where I work and live is a coal city
Poetry by R.K.Singh
Read 1037 times
Written on 2006-12-23 at 11:19
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NOTHING CHANGES
It is the smae housethe same alcove
I shed my loneliness in
reading prayers and psalms
chanting mantras in fumes
it is the same room
the same cement rack
crowded with earthen idols
of Ganesh and Lakshmi
worshipped last Diwali
it is the same altar
the same paper-Kali
framed in glass and
dusted with sindoor
my wife put each day
it is the same floor
the same four walls
God watched us sweeping
and purifying with Dhoopam
each evening before bed
it is the same prayers
the same pleasures
we rejoice with impulse
they savour as sacrilege
our rituals of lust and labour
it is the same incommunicado
the same swearing by coal*
in the dark alley
nothing had changed
and nothing changes
*Dhanbad where I work and live is a coal city
Poetry by R.K.Singh
Read 1037 times
Written on 2006-12-23 at 11:19
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