By Sourav Sengupta
LINES WRITTEN AT NALANDA
The fanatics of every day and age
Are known to fear the inquisitive mind.
One such was Bakhtiyar who came to wage
A campaign of a very savage kind.
Here, witnessed by these time-encrusted walls,
A thousand helpless monks he set ablaze;
While o'er these hills a cloud of smoke so tall
Engulfed the skies that darkness reigned for days.
The knowledge of eight hundred years contained
In countless parchment scrolls, in flames was tossed;
And when the fires died all that remained
Was human ash and ash of wisdom lost.
Today, a tale survives in these relics:
Of mankind’s folly told in blackened bricks.
Sourav Sengupta is an architect by training and a human resource manager by profession. His poetry has been published in literary journals like Revue {R}évolution, Society of Classical Poets and Better Than Starbucks. He lives and works in Kolkata, India.
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