THREE POEMS

By Nayanjyoti Baruah

                         Art Credit: Billy McBride 

ARTICLE-44

When I rest I think of my country. 

I dare not to flak, nor tilt against he or she. 

I’m thinking of Article-44, Uniformity 

Among us, within our territory.

We Hindus are, to some extent, uniform 

But I think of others again from

The eyes of those who have problem

To accomplish the same.

When I see variety and diversity, I freeze. 

Ponder how it’ll work & have cheese?

There is Muslim, Judaism, Christian,

Jain, Buddhism, Sikh and Persian. 

If it is blindly promoted by the ruling party,

Equity can get hurt, becoming all pawn and dirty. 

Because they will lose the inherited custom.

Should we wait for years to implement or stay at home?

No, no, it should be in all house

Regardless of religion, with slight allowance.

I may not be called acrimony, I guess. 

Carry out your ideology for the process

Of integration. This will happen if we unite, 

Work hard, develop our mind and sight. 

That country will be praised if thinks for women

And here the condition is as bad as a chicken. 

It’s not uniformity if the government pays

Fare to spread own religion, idle to others.

Let’s name this new religion after our country,

Of course, spread everything evenly.

Coercion can’t bring us together, 

Share good ideas among brother & sister.

We have, for everyone, IPC,

Let’s have, for everyone, UCC.

                                                               

THE SKY IS FALLING DOWN

Look at the sad sky, sad faces of my country, 

Innumerable revealing their pleas, destitute kismet.

Take its momentum to be forwarded by the youth, 

Dreaming of a new world with a companion.

Now these neighboring countries are seething

To rule, to establish herself as the best.

Music lovers’re hearing the sound of surveillance tanks.

In a dilemma I’m clueless what to choose;

Let’s get married, have baby before the sky falls,

Before we disappear, bifurcate and we’re ruled.

I’d teach my wife, children use of gun and bomb.

Give shelter to those migrants, O Lord, give them food,

Let the scapegoat citizens live as they’re living.

What a soldier cum man am I, who kills people to

Rescue the nation? Is but the territory more important than life? 

The war is on. The sky is falling down.

Seeing spoliation of big flats aches my heart.

Wondering who will buy the jacket, food for children?

We know life after war isn’t easy. Remember,

The land appetite one day will lead to nothingness.

(If I were president or prime minister or king,

No war’d take place. There be fraternity.

There is nothing to be proud of when a strong rules 

Over the weak. It is like a husband beating his wife.)

                                                               

FLOOD FLOOD EVERYWHERE

Flood flood everywhere,

Is nowhere to stand,

Everyone is in great fear

Of how to save, how to remain.

My land is under flood; so before drowning

We free cattles to rescue lives,

Make small bamboo boats and

On them place our bags of rice.

Waves start blowing the ceiling fan,

We head towards the summit of the house and trees,

No time to sit, no bed to sleep,

All are gradually drowning in the flood.

The voices of our people are gradually decreasing,

We look at a distance that a deer’s dead body’s coming,

Maybe from a National Park or a Wildlife Sanctuary!

We have left our people’s corpses along with that.

In an Independent Country

We still fight twenty-four hours on a day.

Flood strips more people than the virus every year,

Yet none comes to inspect circumstances.

My grandfather told me he was born in the water,

My father told me he was born in the water,

I was told that I was born in the water too,

My child will be born in the water, if I stay alive.

Flood flood everywhere

No one is to hear,

One may elevate the questions before elections,

But ears are always crying for answers after selections.

                                                                                 

Nayanjyoti Baruah is a trilingual poet, essayist and translator, from Assam, India. His poems have been appeared in state, national and international magazines and journals such as Tayls, Rasa Literary Review, Felicity, The Fiction Project, A Too Powerful Word, Necro Magazine, Litterateur, AMASHIWII JOURNAL, Dovelyisi Magazine, D-Ample Magazine, The Chakkar Journal, Fasihi Magazine etc.