Abani, are you home?
The neighbourhood lies in sleep with doors closed
But I keep hearing the night knocking at my door,
'Abani, are you home? '
Here it rains all the twelve months
Here the clouds roam like cows
Here the eager green grass
closes in on the door,
'Abani, are you home? '
In my heart, half-dissolved, long-traveled
I fall asleep within pain
Suddenly I hear the night knocking at my door,
'Abani, are you home? '
With the repeated line ABANI ARE YOU HOME? This poem is about feeling at home, looking for a suited safe place called HOME. For his time he wrote a modern poem, had he become that famous based upon his style of writing?
For his time, this is a very progressive way of writing, the reader needs to THINK and conclude, methinks.
'Abani' means earth in Bengali, Odia and many Indian languages which has a Sanskrit origin.It is a common name in India.
'Here it rains all the twelve months'----Perhaps the poet misses his home deeply at a distant land and at night, the sound of rain tapping feels homely and remembers those dear persons calling at him.
I have reread the poem again and I have come to this conclusion: We get an impression of restlessness as the poet yearns to escape from the stuffy enclosure of society and its norms.That's the magic of reading poems, first impression differs entirely with the following read. Poetry is magic!
I cite the concluding lines: Suddenly I hear the night knocking at my door, 'Abani, are you home? ' The night constantly knocking at his door with the subject HOME.5 Stars
The concluding lines of the last stanza hide the answer of the whole poem: HOME
the meaning '' Abani '' must have lost the meaning..but with the meaning of ''Abani '' in Bengali, this becomes a top notch poem...