Translated from Bengali to English by Indian poet Soma Dutta

*Country Road* 

Kolkata is a severed river, wide awake.

At the edge of an exhausted milky way, the play of primal scents.

Here stands a pot-bellied Bharatbarsho, flashing a couple of yellow smiles,

crossing the threshold with the highway still breathing on its shirt.

A slender, twenty-two-year-old Honey Singh, flanked by a pale Sultana Razia.

On the square, the broken, fragmented shadow of endless Shravan descends.

Pacing the alley, chewing gunpowder,

leaving a candle-lit dinner behind.

A fiery tryst beats in the chest. A manic moon takes flight.

In every house, blue light sways like sea foam.

Succumbing to the coldness of that light, it falls asleep…

Deep into the night, silently on its body, burns the open page of a white letter…

Abin Roychoudhury (born September 2, 1987, in Mangalkote, West Bengal) is a prominent Bengali poet, essayist, lyricist, and writer. He gained special recognition in the literary circles for his debut poetry collection, Itipurbe Bolini, published by Ananda Publishers; his other notable poetry collections include Golap Nirapekkha Noy and Bibarna Cycle. Leaving his teaching profession behind, he fully devoted himself to literary pursuits.

His popular song “Norom Sobdo Chhuye Dao” is available on major music platforms. He has presented essays at All India Radio, alongside participating in the Krittibas and India-Bangladesh Poetry Festivals. His poems have been published in all notable magazines across India and Bangladesh. Additionally, he has contributed to World Inkers (jointly published from America and Senegal), Australia’s Multicultural Press, Belgium’s Atunis, Philippines’ Artista De Colores, and the Albanian literary magazine Gazeta Destinacioni, desh, abp, sindh courier etc. For his contributions to literature, he has been honored with the Mallika Sengupta Smriti Puraskar. Currently, he resides in the village of Panuhat near Katwa, West Bengal.