Given?

Does it matter
If I don't see you again?
Your face or your hair
Does it matter
If I don't touch them again?
Would you cry?
Would you cry
if you find I am not there?
Or would you be happy
to lead a life set by someone else?

Yes, unlike me
You didn't choose your life
Nor your path...
Everything was given to you
Everything was set beforehand.

Place unknown :)

Long-haired Boy

No, your long-haired boy
No, your clean-shaved boy
hasn't come this side
No, I haven't seen him.

For many days
He didn't choose to visit
this part of the city-the north.

Dust has covered his table
The bench where he usually sits
remains empty in despair
And his friends
they have stopped
sharing his anecdotes
They have stopped
talking about him.

(Note: Translated from a Bengali poem written long back in 2002-03)

Claiming

Though she claims you legally
I claim you eternally
Many times when I noticed
your white fingers
and imagined them to be as cold
as the snow-clad peaks of the Himalayas
Or when I looked up to your eyes gladly
I claimed you.

If she knows
my every word
reflects bits and pieces of you
She would definitely be surprised
Or may be a little sad
thinking that she can never claim you
the way I do.

LKO