EVENING Poem by Basudev Sunani

How effeminate is the sun?

A dab of collyrium
In its eyes
And the world is dark

The owner of the country liquor shop
Sneaks like a jackal
Into a house
On the outskirts of the village

And at that time
Ganga, Jamuna and Saraswati
Go out for their call of nature
With love-jugs of
Chest-high water
To the nearby field.

Now everyone has forgotten
How darkness comes with the flies
Hiding behind the leaves,

They have forgotten the stealthy love,
The pungent smell
Of cheap perfume
On the shopkeeper's dhoti.

Now Ganga, Jamuna and Saraswati
With vermilion on their foreheads
Desperately eke out their livelihood.

Indeed
Why pray
If one is not afraid
Of the dark?