Mirror of Time – An Anthology of Poems

Gautam Maitra

This maiden collection is a poetic expression of minuscule emotions scattered and introspection into mannerism and habits of human society. Through the South Asian looking glass, these alphabets of life were written over a period of one and a half decades and were gathering dust. One fine morning, while the family were celebrating my birthday and an approaching old age, it was decided to declassify and from a pool of poems written in English and Bengali, twenty-odd were selected. Half a dozen of them is a translation of poems written in native Bengali. Some of the poems fall in the genre of romanticism, a few on civilizational crisis and modernity. Man and nature – chicken first or egg first dichotomy may find an answer through this swan song of a pedestrian’s journey and an enthusiast collects sea-shells of events on the beaches of life. A giant Wall replaces an empty piece of land meant for lovers and grazing cows. At another time and place, Mister Sunday enjoys a break from punishing office duty and embrace the free hours that belong to him. A kid in a village asks the sparrow where to find water in this summer where water is everywhere yet not a drop to drink. At last, the rain comes. Bring the storms with it, washing away the sins of civilization. Yet the morality of a race usurped by the anaconda of merchandised sponsors who may tempt the basic instinct of the masses to catch the consumer honey-bees in their flying nets and make Aladdin lamp, a laughing stock.