Campfire At The Middle Of Nowhere Poem by Aloke Mukherjee

I can tell you a tale of water, creeping like a cheetah
caught them unaware, while they were dreaming the
Sunlight flooding the land of their forefathers with the
aroma of paddy- our guide telling us stories to spend
the night, we were sitting around the campfire at the far
side of a polder. We reached here with the twilight breeze
cooling us for the night ahead.

Behind the clearing an array of Sundari, Garjan, and Hental
stood firm on their ground, sentries for their kings. It was an
eerie night, flames of the fire flickering, playing a curious chiaroscuro
except occasional shrieks of rhesus monkey, a pall of quietude descending
on the ground, It was moonless night, a few stars shone on the sky. You
would see the pug mark nearby in the morning, the night was reeking of
ominous smell. They had come to quench their thirst, flip-flop on water.

He resumed- -I can tell you- one night striped beast fell on the boat like
lightning, boards creaked, the boat swayed- his canine bit deep onto the
jugular of the man sprouting blood and dream, a jigsaw puzzle yet to unravel
Where those dream were living- - an island, a small plantation, she beside him.

Our guide was rambling- -I can tell you of a twister that twisted the life of a
couple smashing the cottage, their son hanged awry from a hental tree
with still a divine smile lingering on his face, no one saw a large cumulus
cloud was poised like a witch for the kill, I wonder how justice is meted out.
Note. Sundarbans, the swamp forest lying on the vast delta of Bay of Bengal formed at the confluence of four great rivers Padma, Brahmaputra, Meghna in Bangladesh and Hooghly in West Bengal, India. Hental, Garjan, Sundari are part of the flora of this region.It is world's largest Mangrove ecosystem.This area is affected by cyclone and big Tidal wave. The fauna includes Bengal Tiger known as Royal Bengal Tiger I went deep into West Bengal side of this swampy forest. Other animals in this area are rhesus monkey, crocs, spotted deer.