Sunlit Ride

by Gopal Lahiri / November 24th, 2024

My eyes are walls of silence and solitude
speaking from my iris
in the language you call ruthless

The sun fills the hills and valleys,
and there are people waiting
for the sunlit ride.

Paddy fields lush, the leaves they eat
from the pond in the morning,
I do not really see them.

I come later and see your tracks
on the muddy path
only to the edge.

And my life, my body surely
lifts itself up,
isn’t yours?

Gopal Lahiri is a bilingual poet, critic, editor, writer and translator with 29 books published, including eight solo/jointly edited books. His poetry and prose are published across more than seventy journals and anthologies globally. His poems are translated in 16 languages. He has been nominated for Pushcart Prize for poetry in 2021. He has received Setu Excellence Award, Pittsburgh, US, in poetry. He is the first recipient of. Jayanta Mahapatra National Award for Literature, 2024. Read other articles by Gopal.

This article was posted on Sunday, November 24th, 2024 at 7:59am and is filed under Poetry.