Gopa Bhattacharjee

Ghats of Bengal

Every ghat has a story to tell -
When the reddish sun rises in the horizon
the blushing bride tinkels her bangles 
the bereaved widow breaks them forever
relationships are built and broken here .
 
With arrival of the scorching yellow sun 
the ghat feels the pale shakled feet 
of men and women taking dips after dips ,
scrubbing off their doubled troubled souls .
 
Every ghat is a lovers paradise -
From day break till twilight
flushed lovers sitting on the side
entwined hands in giggling testimony
the wind witness to their whispering kisses .
 
As the evening hue of the sky reflects 
far away upon ghats burning pyres
it feels the heavy footstep of a child, drowning ashes of his progeny.
 
While darkness engulfs the ghats
prostitute night , open for tired hearts
lonely souls find solace in its path.
There you might find a poet sitting alone
counting the stars with jumbled words ,
to complete an incomplete verse.

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