Macabre hues that engulf chairs

Under screeching senile fan,

Would refract in the languid gaze

Vapid sweat swells, pages turn-

Cicadas, moss and moistened fern,

Spin the moments in a yearning yarn.

Solitary tread through the dampened pines

 of Dowhill,  crimson bleeding bloom

 of rhododendrons; now perpetrate

And conjure up a mystic maze.

Pierced by intense cicadas.

The pine trees tangle fidgeting specs

of rustling scripts and tuber thoughts,

into a swirling silken mesh.

Invigilation of laboured rush,

Measured inklings, blotches and lines

The truant tuber thoughts so bend

Invade tense and turgid space.

The splendid blend of fern and sweat,

Mountain calm and frantic fret

Inked in leaking pens of time,

Frozen in the eternal wait.

Wait for final sonorous bell

Lifelong invigilation’s tale.

                                                                  ~ Dr. Piku Chowdhury

                                                                        Kolkata, India