Meheknonda River Poem by Munira Chowdhury

Meheknonda
One
A calm salty river resides in blood and broken flashes of the moon
Flooded the river.
My river, you sleep
My grandmother you sleep
My God, you sleep
Crematoria and grave, the waves of the blue sea, the crows
And cuckoo, you sleep
The rains come with obliviousness in Bhabanipur
The rains come
The rains come
Cries of eyes of shattered rains I gathered in my lap
Cries of the rickety child I took on my lap
Inordinate tatters of pillows I have washed
In the Ganges river in the running chariots of Kanyakumari
I watch the rains fall
I watch the rains fall
I feel the rains when I am seated in my mother's womb
I watch the rains when I am inside my grandmother's grave
Today I remember I had died hundred years earlier
I died twice in this mortal world
Prior to each death I made a mirror
I searched for the mirrors and found them after a long time
I saw the faces of raindrops on the inordinate mirror