Boats on the River

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Beneath the bridge of steel, I see

Three wooden boats of yesterday,

Fishermen’s ports, lost in time

Surviving on the river’s sway

 

But I imagine names upon their side –

Sutanoti, Kolikata, Gobindopur,

And realise perhaps of all the world

They are the strongest moored

 

Vessels of time, they are the roots

To which the town is bound,

They’ll whisper how Charnock came,

The day this city was found

 

They were floating still, when war arrived

When Marx was hopeful new,

Still wobbly when that midnight struck,

While hammer-sickle grew

 

They are even there, in future times

When seer and seen are gone,

Time capsules, from yesterday –

Each day as if once more reborn…


28th April, 2025

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