Five Poems by Ananya S. Guha

By Ananya S. Guha 

There is a return

Almost nowhere trapped
in these hills I am caught
among voices and a lone dream
that these terrains weave among
clouds and gurgling streams
I am ensnared by some form
beauty or demonic beast
but I lift my hands, a prayer
to these tempestuous hills
even as the stalactites and the stalagmites
in cavernous rocks of Cherra wither
Into fantasy. There is a return.

***

You know 

Everyday the sun triumphs
in these hills, even when
it rains vigorously lashing window panes
but the sun less fortuitous triumphs
sans glory
as it nestles by the hill side storm
and is, bystander to the history of these
hills. I summon courage to withstand
the rain or an earthquake
knowing that the sun with bravado
gets a glimpse of my fortitude.

***

Resilience

In these rivers there is dirt
but the muddied images of
the goddess float after the immersion
for another Durga Puja to emerge
these October rains flood the Umiam lake
and mirages feint on hill tops
blue skies mirror images of a hill town
caught in time-warp of city and town.

***

The school 

Still stands though buildings
have changed
but the relentless corridor and teachers
In cassocks haunt dreams
even as the Alsatian dog barks
in mnemonic hiatuses.
I get up prepared to go to school
for another day, as years lapse
into history.

***

The crows

Every night they rattled rooftops
and in Gauhati their mournful cawing
nibbled at my dreams
Earthly wonder, theirs was a raiment
of dark dark even as the moon winced
to lessen a bit of the black
and merge them with dark nights.
Their sullen mourning sent a shriek
in the air and in Shillong’s rains
they pranced madly in their wetness.

Picture Credit: Kuheli Biswas Das

Bio:
Ananya S Guha was born and brought up in Shillong where he now lives. He writes poetry in English and is the author of eight collections. His poems have been published in several anthologies of Indian poetry in English. He holds a doctoral degree on the novels of William Golding and has worked for around 38 years as a teacher and academic administrator.

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