Poetry at Sangam

Poetry at Sangam showcases poetry in English and translations as well as essays on poetics and news of new releases.

There are Wars by Keki N. Daruwalla

I have lived with wars,
though they raged outside of me:
missed the great one by thirty years,
never saw rats in trenches,
though I got immersed in poetry and the tanks
as they fenced with barbed wire.
I remember Enola Gay and Hiroshima
and a nameless man evaporating.

When peace descended, I lived with those
who wanted to tinker with it and shred it.

And I have lived with love.

And also with the green of grass, and birdcalls,
lived with poetry and light that rusts at dusk
and is alive at dawn,
and lived with my masks and those of others—
papier-mâché glued to wood.

Have lived with love and friends,
Lived with death and grieving.
What else is there to life?

 

 

← Keki N. Daruwalla

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