And thus she went
Leaving behind her the many kind words
And lingering hopes that make all good things seamless,
But which fade like her perfume in places she slept.

When I saw her face disappear
Behind mirroring train reflections
I saw those who stared when we waved
Caught in the crossfire of our connection.

They should know, as all should, how
Our iron-clad love is feather armour
Marking a true knight of the cloth
The world's spasms worn about our backs with many gold brooches.

Such it is to be anointed, to filter all out
With your inestimable standards
Held high for those to see
How much she loves me.

A quarantined soul stuck in her abode,
longing to travel a country mile.
Walking through the known lanes,
those stilt houses and hilly paths
till the gate of my home,
where my parents live.
I can see them virtually
but that doesn't satisfy my heart!
I miss my mom's smile
I miss my dad's humour
I miss the sibling gossip while slurping the soupy Maggi bowl.
Yes this quarantined soul has become a wanderlust
Just to visit my home once!!

Bina Mukherjee

Missing home,
which is built with love,
little thunder and storm.

Today I feel it’s weight again.
A month has passed
Many things have happened
But finally I managed to find my way

Back home.

I thought I’d learned how to deal with it
How to heal
From every wound that each departure creates
I thought I could react
I thought I was fine

I am fine, or at least I should be

You see, there’s someone waiting for me,
far from home
It shouldn’t bother me this much
Leaving I mean

I thought it had become easier
Quicker

But if I think about how long I won’t be back
About my friends here
Panic occurs.

It feels like far from home
Is just a projection
Not my true reality
Just something that happens between
The visits I make

And yet
I spend more time making those visits
Rather than living home

That’s how it works
That’s how it should be

I thought I understood
But turns out I didn’t
Because here I am crying
Thinking that another month has to pass
Before I’ll come back again.

I’d better start looking for the right way

All the places where I have been
And the rest of this world to be seen
But deep down i felt something is missing
I guess I'm far away from home tonight
Holding you in my arms are the thing i miss the most
I wish you can wait from me to come back
Because I can't deny
I'm far away from home tonight

Even as I am all set to leave for Berkeley
I am still not sure of how I feel about going
I am grateful for a comfortable
window seat on the exit row
but feels an intense feeling of
being homesick
I haven't arrived Berkeley
but I can't wait to go home.

I remember this time of the day
In the front yard where it's almost dusk
Swarms of mosquitoes buzzing in
We need to close the windows hurriedly
Or else they'll prey on us tonight

Then Nanay, with her broom without a stick
Will burn the dry leaves on the ground
Which she gathered together with
Abandoned paper planes and plastic kites
As the sun slowly disappears from our sight