Broken Autobiography.. Nirmal bhattacharya

 

If you do not let me lie
how can I tell you the truth
that has been lying trapped
alongwith so much uncouth?

That first sun is yet to go down
when the only godly neighbour
died from an unknown starvation
or was it an eros-bitten complication?

He suffered from both hunger and maddening lust
and he could not separate
the subtlest movements of one from the other
aim as he did to be a clap-getting actor.

I have passed thousands of suns and moons
since I took off from that launch pad.
I have sucked both blue poison and red honey
and have seen bastards caressing murderous money.

They have shown me in detail on life's many highways
the beggar-making machines
and uncared labour pain in cutting-edge factories
and such lips as always smile with dark sheen.

On such a venture
we two met at a hopeful junction
and our eyes fell on many flamboyant
paths to liberation.
We thought we could choose the true path
and once found
there would be plenty of food love and sunbath.

We started looking for the right narrative
for truth against lie.
So amidst echoes we walk  without compunction
though the wall ahead writes:
Lies here are protected from falsification.

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