By Dr Ajanta Paul
The Sun Dog
The sunlight lay sprawled on the ground
Like a dog with its forelegs out
Panting slightly, with the respiring breeze
Gently altering its shape.
Trampled beneath a thousand trudging feet
It somehow remained complete,
As somewhere deep in its molecular marrow
It clung to the faint memory
Of its cosmic source
With its all-consuming heat.
And its own skipping, slipping descent
Down the spatial gradient
To flop down
On that patch of ground
To rest at last,
Before it’s ancestral measure
Changed at whim
Cutting short its leisure
Banishing it to another clime.
.
A Passing Wish
I know you don’t care for me
Anymore than I do for myself.
It’s not funny
.
As I contend
With life’s paltry patrimony.
Yet somewhere in the crude funfair
.
Of taxicab rides and tramcar jaunts,
Between exigency and etiquette,
And the tossed reach of the trawling net,
.
The thought rises and haunts
Me that I perhaps have had
More than my share
.
Of ups and downs
Crinkled up in history’s frowns
And now could do
.
With a level playing field,
My own and buoyant trampoline
Where with childish glee
.
I may forget my pains
And be forever free!
.
Dr. Ajanta Paul is an academician, administrator, critic, poet and author, currently Principal & Professor of English at Women’s Christian College, Kolkata, India. She has published several books of criticism and imaginative literature including The Elixir Maker and Other Stories (Authorspress, 2019). Dr. Paul has been featured in print magazines and online journals including Youth Times, The Telegraph Colour Magazine, The Statesman, The Bengal Post, Setu Bilingual Journal, Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry, Millennium Post, Indulge Express, Indiablooms, Transworld Features and Magic Diary Initiative.
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