for Prof. Samantak Das
Reports don’t reveal
if a note is found
near the corpse.
Compeer says,
He was a Marxist but
he never limited him-
self to party politics.
Newsfeed pours in recollections.
I met him once in Santiniketan.
Exchange of courtesies
beyond a hearty bonjour—
he waned through the misty lane
for his routine walk.
Impromptu earns recalling
when consumption lingers.
(Kiriti Sengupta, the 2018 Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize recipient, has poems that have been published around the world. He has authored eleven books of poetry and prose; two books of translation; and edited eight anthologies. Sengupta is the founder and chief editor of the Ethos Literary Journal. He lives in New Delhi.)
