When, I Closed My Eyes Poem by Susanta Pattnayak

I never knew
One can see with closed eyes
Till, I closed my eyes.

Gently flashed
The greens, the teens
The meadows, the shadows
The steep hills, the sharp falls
Swamps, dumps, pebbles, conchs and shells
Over my closed eyes.

Rose, with petaline lips little open
Jasmine, in full shringhar
Shaking with lashing glance, the campus queen
Splashed, in my closed eyes.
On the fluidly layer though, an angelic beauty
Quite, as she always is, speaking by her eyes
I lost me in her eyes, when I closed my eyes.

I never knew
One can see with closed eyes
Till, I closed my eyes.

On an uneven granitic mound
Palms under the cheeks
Shorts till the knees, chest open
In the narrow corner, a little boy
Smiled through my closed eyes
When, I closed my eyes.

With paper boats in hand
I waited, he said
throughout the rain,
to sail through the village road.

Under the autumn moon, full bloom
I waited, he said
by the river-side,
with many a ghost stories to tell.

Beside the village fire
I waited, he said
in chilled winter,
with roasted (stolen) chicken, wrapped in paper.

Towel wrapped round the waist
To swim across the summer-slim, knee-deep river
Semi ripen mangoes, green and yellow
Alone in the orchard, I waited
You never came...

I never knew
One sees oneself in closed eyes
Till, I closed my eyes.

Hand-in-hand, soul-to-soul, we flew
Over the green fields, thick forests
Ruined castles, prison walls
Over the deserts, oceans, volcanic eruptions
The creeks, the high peaks
Leaving behind the eagles, flamingos and the geese.

Rowing the clouds
Kissing the rainbow
We sailed past the blue
Further deep into the blue
In closed eyes...