top of page

Silence & Happiness

By: Amitabh Vikram Dwivedi

 

Silence

 

Her eyes said something to me-

So softly, so silently.

That silence created chaos in my mind.

 

In my imagination, I thought of her image:

“Her solid head is in my tender arms,

Which are faithless like her weak hair,

That remains when she removes her head.”

 

The waste hair and my waste love!

 

Then she said-

“Listen! And put her tender head on my solid heart.”

 

I was silent but her eyes said:

“Speak! Why are you silent?”

 

My silent tongue moved, and I said:

“Come let’s move.”

We parted silently, we said goodbye

Happiness

 

She wanted to be happy.

She set-off her journey in this world.

It was a new start.

 

She searched for a companion.

She married, divorced, and re-married,

And she repeated her actions twice.

 

She wanted to live her life to its fullest.

Meanwhile, she produced babies-licit and illicit,

Both inside and outside the institution.

 

She just wanted to be happy.

She slept with men and women, and

She spent many cheap nights on creaky bed.

 

She tasted and consumed everything desirable.

Until, she realized one day, probably her dooms day,

That happiness does not come from consumption of things.BW

 

AMITABH VIKRAM DWIVEDI is university faculty and assistant professor of linguistics at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, India; and author of two books on lesser known Indian languages: A Grammar of Hadoti and A Grammar of Bhadarwahi.

.

As a poet, he has published around fifty poems in different anthologies, journals, and magazines worldwide. Until recently, his poem “Mother” has included as a prologue to Motherhood and War: International  Perspectives (Eds.), Palgrave Macmillan Press. 2014.

 

bottom of page