Sober Distance.. nirmal bhattacharya

 

A good poem should always maintain
a sober distance.
When I wrote this one clouded night
in my diary
poetry left me for someone else.
I have never come to grips with the idea
that poetry should be made of life
or life of poetry.
A sober distance keeps the half-seen lights
beyond the borders around
going far into the future.
A sober distance between words and clauses
make it happen on white unbroken page.
A sober distance between the first date and
a hotel bed
does tie the knots of unsaid words
into a lasting braid.
I will not tear up that page of diary
at any cost.
Face to face I will sit on
guarded by my left-behind ghost.

©️ 2021