Poetry 2014 Shortlist, Amit Shankar Saha

Behind the Curtain

Behind the curtain
Of the window
I cannot see,
But I know
There are people
Living lives.

Sometimes a hand
I see
Adjusting the curtain,
Sometimes a washed
Linen
Hangs outside the window.

Indicating -
Existence of
Other people,
Living their lives.
A family perhaps -
Morning vigil,
Nightly sleep,
Daily life,
Petty strife,
Husband and wife,
Behind the curtain
Of the window.

Do they know me?
No they don’t.
They see my head
On my window sill,
They see my legs
As I sleep,
They see the dark,
They see the light,
My windows don’t have
Curtains. Perforations
On the sheet of my life -
Visible like history.

Early morning,
The pigeon, the sparrow,
I hear the crow,
They also may.
Wake up.
Sunlight.
Who goes out
Of the fourth floor?
Market, office, picnic,
School, movies, holidays.
What if I had been
One of them?

Living their lives,
Imagined by someone else.
Behind the curtain
Of the window
On the fourth floor
Where I live. Now.

An ordinary life,
A family,
Friends, in the world,
Not an imagined life.
I get affected,
I cease...