I woke up
To the sight of
A girl drowning
In a tub of coal
Before being dragged out
To disappear by encounter.
I woke up
To the song
Mere sapno ke rani
Kab aayegi tu …
‘Did I wake or sleep?’
There had been a man in it…
The one that passed orders.
And the one that carried them and her out
Of my jolted dream.
There had been yet another girl in it.
Afloat in the shadows of living silence.
The overwhelming question is,
Which was I?
~Ananya Dutta Gupta
India