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Stairs

by Rituparna Mukherjee

Image by Asha Jain via Unsplash


I was back at the stairs again.

This time it was dark

A familiar odour filled the place

The window let the greenery in.

A stagnant pond

Made lush with unkempt reeds,

A few houses

Belittled in the distance.

I caressed the gravelly stairs,

I felt at home there.

They were rough,

Half made,

Uncouth,

Uneven,

Led to nowhere in particular.

Sitting at the bottom

I imagined it would one day

Bring in other people

Some more wishes

A few more sighs.


Smell of freshly washed hair,

You had come.

Your eyes picked mine

Your heart comprehended mine.

But did you ever know my mind?

Together we sat

Basked in the greenery

Thinking aloud,

Awashed in silence.

I would steal furtive glances,

Had too much to prove.

Your slender frame would resemble

The greens outside.

Such yearning you had

To touch the greens

I would want to rip them out

Form a rope

And tie you to mine.

My feet would touch a stone chip

Oozing warmth,

And I would luxuriate

In the proximity

Undone.


But that was yesterday.

I sit at the top

Looking below.

The marble stairs

Confuse me.

Cold,

White,

Translucent,

Throwing iridescent shadows

Across the wall.

It’s still dark

I long for the window

But it is nowhere to seen.

I scrape my feet

Across the polished floor

But I am left

Unhampered,

Unprepared still.

I trace the walls with my fingers

They give me company,

They smell sterile.

I look to where

The stairs open,

Large bright rooms

Lead to one another

Their windows absurdly

Imitate the others,

Each in restfulness.


I only want the green.

The green,

And your reed-like frame.

I know

The stairs will never be the same again.




Rituparna Mukherjee is a faculty of English and Communication Studies at Jogamaya Devi College, under the University of Calcutta. Her masters in English Literature is from University of Calcutta and her MPhil on Second Language Acquisition and Strategic Competence in ESL Learners is from Jadavpur University. She is currently pursuing Doctoral degree in Gendered Mobilities in west African and Afro-Diasporic Literature at IIIT Bhubaneswar. Her areas of interest include African and Indian literature and Post-colonial and Feminist theories as well as English Language Teaching, Second Language Acquisition and Communication studies. She works as an ELT consultant, translator and ESL author outside of her work and research schedule.



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