Autobiography Poem by Pradip Saikia

Are you there
Are you

Inside the house
Closing all doors and windows

On the street
Inside the dustbin at the gate
Inside the dark morgue
Inside the blood soaked shirt
Inside the barrel of the smoking gun

Are you there
In the address of the post office
In the worn out posters
In the phone numbers
In the burnt photo albums
In the ashtray
Inside the empty box of cigarettes

Are you there
Inside the empty wine bottles
In the weary pendulum
Inside the drawer of the table
In the
Gummed up envelope
Almirah
Showcase

Losing ones head
In the rusted trunk
Under the shanty with tiled roof

Are you there
In the blank papers
Taken for penning down the biography
In the cobwebs

In the face of the nail-cutter
In the pyre yetto be lit

# Translated from Assamese to English by: Bibekananda Chowdhury