Poems by Sanjukta Dasgupta

COMPANION

 

My companion and I

Are thick as thieves

Alter-egos

 Not Xerox copies

 

My companion and I

Never meet or eat in cafes

Not Siamese but fraternal twins

Dizygotic twins say the wise ones

 

We are not echoes

My companion resides within me

Friend, philosopher and guide

When in a good mood

 

My companion can be active

My companion can be positive

My companion can be lax

If not handled with care.

 

‘Jiban Debata’, Living God

Said Our Bard of Bolpur

Conscience a compass needle

Intravenous companion in arms

Introspection influencer

Till life departs.

 

 

Where have the Letter Boxes gone?

 

 

Once upon a time

I felt terrible

That all the letters

In our front-door letter box

Were for my Ma and Baba

 

One summer vacation

I wrote a postcard to myself

With my name, my home address

28, Kabi Nabin Sen Road

Kolkata 700028

I also added

West Bengal India

Asia World

 

Three days later

That postcardI had

Dropped in the red postbox

Next to the  park in our area

Was dropped by the postman

Into our front-door letter box.

 

It was a green slitted

Woodenboxwith a clasp

It was always locked

With a tiny lock

And a tinier key

 

Letters from friends

Letters from pen friends

Letters from cousins

Letters from relatives

Were such a delight

 

Unexpected letters

From aspiring boyfriends

Were  spine-chilling

Yet those were the letters

That still repose

In the other letter box

That no one but I can open

 

Those read, half read

Unread letters that no one had written

I read them during sleepless nights

A thousand times

 

I dropped a postcard into the red postbox

This time it did not return

As the address bore no number or road name

The address simply stated

‘To You’   INDIA ASIA WORLD EARTH.