Contributor: Pranab Ghosh

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The darkness all around.
The benches, the cool
Evening air, the seated
Figures hugging each
Other’s soul and feeling
An unworldly comfort.

The dim light adding
To the darkness around;
The pangs, the sighs of the
Shadowy figures, the
Agony of being close to
Each other and the ecstasy,
Created by the illusion
That time indeed can
Stand still in the shade
Of the lonely casuarinas
Planted by the walkways
At equal distance, creating
A net of secrecy, underneath,
By the side and behind,
Where they lock lips
And forget the pangs
Of fleeting time that
Separates their souls
And their bodies, as they
Long for the park, which
They turn into their homes,
Without the limiting walls, and
The trees, as their nets,
To hide themselves from
The jealous stare of the
Civilization, where they can
Return, evening after evening
To find solace to their bruised
Existence that struggles to
Survive in the slowed-down
World, where prices, bills, taxes
Rise higher than the tallest
Building in the city, two blocks
Away and opposite to their
Lovely open-air studio apartment!


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Pranab Ghosh is a journalist and poet. His poems have been published in several international magazines. His second book of poems Soul Searching and other Poems was published by a Toronto-based publishing house.