A Boatman Poem by Sankhajit Bhattacharjee

A cemented bridge is constructed-
people can avail the bridge to cross the river:
their cargo will be carried by vans.

A boatman imagines the sky as a river
and the floating cloud his boat,
as the cloud maintains connection from one part of the world to the other
his boat once did,
now it is obsolete.

Modernization has destroyed a boatman's livelihood.
With time modernization becomes urgent-
if a lift can replace hundred stairs,
stairs can never be ignored-
life takes the stairs for climbing
because climbing is not so easy for a life!

Today the boatman looks at the two banks-
the banks are crowded as they were previously
but none pays any heed to him.
He remains like a dried brown leaf on the ground,
the lively green leaf at the branch laughs at him!