Ritwik Chaudhary, Poetry 2022 Longlist

 Elegy for an Immoral Man  

Life - that other word

I know; it is but

A little prelude,

A dream,

An only truth, among many others,

And, like them, it has been lost; 

The future holds a million thoughts

I have no reason to believe,

The past, too, that unknown, that fall from grace,

The room, the great star, the hollow feeling of eternity,

The hollows…

I am the master of nothing,

Nor a master,

I have been hollow,

Or a plain man,

A virtuous man of iron,

I am in chains,

In no meaningful relation to my eyes,

Or with meaning,

I have spelt this word with no alphabet,

Nor used paint on stone, wood or etching,

I have been amused at the horrors of life,

And the brave and the minor and the moon and the stars,

I have no reason to believe or deny any word written, spoken,

Or those that are unspoken, 

While I believe in nothing,

I still consider myself, above all…

A hope, nothing more,

For a strange work to be written,

With this I depart. I have spoken.

Once again, it was silent.