Clamorous both outside and within

Clamorous both outside and within In whose grip does the sharpened sword seethe Drops of blood remained dripping from the roof All through the night At whose feet are the finer veins Lying genuflect In which corner is the enkindled star Hiding itself The night of the hailstorm shattered Unopposed All dreams of Saraighat The interlinking village-paths have eroded away The bonding bridges of faces and minds have crumbled Amid the incessant clamour The detached people have become Unfamiliar with their own selves Wonder, to which dense forest Are the hushed inaudible screams, Floating in the emptiness, And the echoes of their resonance Heading for? And the countless afflicted faces with shattered dreams? How clamorous both outside and within How were the times, what have they turned into! Has the phase of war ended herein! How strange The white-feathered birds that had come to town To sing the morning wake-up songs Met their ends in the noose in the Jatinga of greed. Anirban Dutta is an Assamese poet and writer based in Hawajan, Biswanath, Assam.