The Barren One | Hari Barkakoti

In a spark rising from a stony passage
Living life germinated as a geometrical point
You awoke
Looking at the crawling dance of hill snakes
In the sub-tropical region of your unconscious self
You were enchanted

Gazing at the sharp lines of lightning
In the slanted eyes of the earth
Criss-cross with scratches
You opened up the beginning of history
Of living and letting live
A glitter through the gaps of barren life’s
Structure-
Is it life?A faultless imitation of life
In the severed tail of a household gecko.

Sonpahi dear
You kept a pitcher of wine
In this inn of life
A discoloured message of a crawling desire.

Faded wind
Showers of fire particles blow
Through the turbulent noon
Into the eyes of time.
The cords moving the puppets
Get entangled.
Futile are your preparations
For this barren evening;
You woke up from the raw sleep
Broken by the fatigue of wailing
And heard only the whistle of the leaving steamer.

You saw,
But did you know,
You are only an artificial flower made of fish scales
Captive on the wall.
The door is closed, the insignia buried
In the chest-deep silt of a closing day.

Hari Barkakati is a prominent poet of Assam. He is the author of six outstanding poetic anthologies : Xagar Balir Khoj, Konoba Shitar Eta Boga Xandhiya, Chinaki Chinaki Gondh, Man Kagazar Nao, Hari Barkakatir Kabita and Swanirbaashita Kabita (Assamese and English).