by Trishna Basak
Translated from Bengali by: Chirayata Purna Chakrabarty
They have burnt a lot of libraries, they still do, and always will,
And in the midst of this, I’ve finally found a flameproof library.
Some of the books here are lakes, some rivers and some oceans –
They don’t catch on fire,
I dive in whenever I want,
What a fun library,
Where you gotta bring a swimming suit
Every time you come!
I read while I float,
I read while I drown,
Back stroke, front stroke, butterfly stroke, even the love-locked stroke have I learnt.
People come here to learn, so have I.
So bent was my head, I could not for the life of me find the entrance,
Then I realized, there was no entrance to begin with,
It was an open library,
Little boulevards surround it like green syrup,
So it gets somewhat hard to find,
But I found it.
From another planet have I walked to this place,
To read to my heart’s content,
Won’t you take me, library?
