Separation: Two Poems by Shyamasri Maji
Photo: Shyamasri Maji
‘Playing hide and seek / In the caves of broken giggles’
Jasmine Light
If I die tonight
Without a note under my pillow
Do not feel sorry, do not mourn
Go to the jasmine tree
In the lonely corner of our quarrels
You can smell my smiles on its leaves
Shrouded with the glittering cobwebs
Of dew-drenched moments—
The creamy white blossoms
Peep like the faces of children
Playing hide and seek
In the caves of broken giggles
Upon the clouds of coffin-closed eyes,
I dream no more for any heavenly surprise.
In the fragrance of wooden darkness
Peace seeps deep
Through ten thousand roots,
Into an aquarium of tranquil delight
I’ll wait for you, here, in jasmine light.
*
Cardamom Tea
All our arguments
All our laughter over the years
I poured into your cup of cardamom tea
This October morning
Soon, you’ll be back from walk
Smiling in haste
To the fiery maple bonsais
Outside our pastel-hued walls
My eyes burn
There’s smoke outside my window.
Do not disturb me
If I sleep till the fire fades away
In the silence of snowfall,
Shut and separated—
Like an empty chair against the fire place
***
Shyamasri Maji is an Assistant Professor in English at Durgapur Women’s College in Durgapur, West Bengal. She writes short stories and poems in English, some of which have been published in Muse India, Six Seasons Review, Story Mirror, Setu, Kolkata Fusion, Café Dissensus, Indian Periodical, Borderless and Teesta Review. She has read her poems at Humara Mushaira of South Asian Literary Association, 2022.
