Watercolours
By Amita Ray
Night holds in its charcoal density
water colours of a nascent morn
promises of spangled starry night--
from darkness births sepia pledges
on platter of sunshine, contouring placid images
a deluge of water colours splash the sky
rife with melody of cooing dove--
the dawn of peace elusive, ripped each morn
as black fumes of hatred spiral towards
aureate sky, dense with miasma of gunpowder,
puddles blood drenched, bear children crushed
a skyful of cherished promises,
images breathing cerulean peace
each morn disintegrates, drained
away in faded water colours.
Amita Ray, former associate professor in English and Vice- Principal of a College is based in Kolkata. She is a translator, short story writer, and poet. She has to her credit five volumes of translations. As a writer of short stories she has authored a collection titled Trail of Love & Longings. Her short stories have been widely published and anthologised. Her second collection of short stories is on the anvil. Her collection of poems Until Birds Sing was published a couple of years back. Two of her translated books have been nominated for the Shahitya Akademy Translation (into English) award. The first nomination was in 2022 for her translation of Abanindranath Tagore’s Khirer Putul. In 2024, for the second time her Translation of Dwipantarer Katha. (The Story Of Deportation), a memoir authored by Barindra Kumar Ghosh was shortlisted for the prestigious Sahitya Akademy Award .