The Power of a Kiss
On what we call the Kiss Day of lovers I travel on a train quite far from you. On Facebook Watch I watch how long we’ll last on planets other than our earth. In all we will exist just a few seconds but that would be enough to steal a kiss at least. Before we spend our pent-up lives sucking out breaths from each other’s mouths. Until the same turns into the kiss of life and resuscitates us as celestial dust.
Rituraj Vasant
Hey priye, subha agaman, agaman, subha agaman, Vasant Ritu subha agaman. Vasant Ritu shreshthatam. They say Vasant Ritu is the best but see how the grasses have covered the once well-trodden way, deluding me of direction. How do I come to you now? Should I tread a new path? But where will it lead me? The poet asks me to follow the hemkarn, but the frost flecks are so evanescent, they fade away even before I tread on them. The nostalgia of their cool wetness is all I am left with. Do I have to be mawkish again in this day and age? Will I be re-forgiven? Else, how do I come to you? Maha Kavi talks about the pangs induced by the songs of the kokil. For him Vasant Ritu is madhuram, mangalam and shreshthatam. Hey priye, do I say the same? Do I have to be a child to grow up again? If so, agaman, subha agaman, Vasant Ritu subha agaman. If this madness be the path, I will tread the shadow of the great poet. *Inspired by the Vasant Ritu Varnam in Maha Kavi Kalidasa's Ritusamhara, adapted in Hindi by Dr. Neelam Verma
Amit Shankar Saha
Amit Shankar Saha is a short story writer and poet. He is the author of three collections of poems and a non-fiction book. He has been nominated for the Griffin Poetry Prize, the Pushcart Prize and the Best of Net anthology and has won the Wordweavers Prize both for short story and poetry. He is the Assistant Secretary of IPPL and Editor-in-Chief of EKL Review. He has a PhD in English and works as Assistant Professor in Seacom Skills University.