The wailing wall or the Walled City (Summer 2004)

Bhaswati Sengupta

tentatively we string
truths we see
into tales and songsset loose they rush pell mell
at the thick wall of silence
that guards the city
wherein dwell keepers of virtue
and makers of law with
the creators of culture

if the wall did not bar
tales and songs that do not fit
if it did not enclose
norms forms and names
that define the diameters
of art and its practice
if my songs or yours
ever found their way
past that wall
there would be chaos

reality would go berserk
alignments and alliances turn awry
questions run helter skelter
authority would lose its might
and society its sight

order order barks the wall
over the clamour
of our shattered songs
which blow wild with the wind