THE PRESENT
JATINDRA
MOHAN GANGULI
I
looked behind
To
hold and pull the Past,
As
its memory came
Sweet
and bitter;
To
see and judge
If
indeed any was sweet, any bitter,
But
fast and faster the Past went
Into the dark, darker dark.
Then
I turned ahead
To
catch and pull the Future;
To
see what could in it be
That
in turn shone and hid
But
itself never revealed.
But
the Future smiled and fled
And
thinned away into the blue
Where I never knew.
Then
I looked down
To
the Present
That
came with me to stay;
This
I would know
This
I’d hold and keep,
This
is mine, with me ever be;
But
where, where its gone,
Before
I grasp,
Before
I know, before I have,
Before
I see and feel (it) in clasp.