UMANATH BHATTACHARYA
Keeping you in view
I do what I do
You are the prime mover of my life
Bristled with
tribulations and strife.
Quite innocent you are, I know,
Of the working of my
heart and mind.
For never have I breathed a word:
About this forbidden
thing.
To you or to anybody else in the world:
My heart’s desires and
dreams.
Yet as my soul is about to take wings
Being mortally ill,
I discover with dismay
This must have been an open secret
Known to everybody in the
world.
The leaves whisper it,
Birds twitter it,
The rivers murmur it,
And the stars being aware of it
Gossip in the galaxy
high.
Only you do not know
How dearly you have been loved.
Since when and how long.
Be this the swan-song of your poet
My Innocent Babe, Unsuspecting!
If you reject
co-existence,
the alternative is war and
mutual destruction.
Speech in
Parliament 29 September
1964