Chittaranjan Dash, Delhi, 27 August 2023
In the dark silence
A single lamentation pierces the soul
Is it a primordial lonesome memory
In search of a gentle host?
Who is my memory keeper?
– God, my lover, moon,
My shadow, a child on pavement,
A lizard on the wall or an unread book?
All blood of promise must evaporate
To the blue of giant emptiness
On last ashes of the world
Our names shall be lost.
What must sustain this eternity
But a shadow of the sword
Bearing might of the Almighty Lord
Yet beating with love.
