JAYASRI BURMAN
Stay Here, O Soul…, a poem for Bazaar India, November 2022
O Soul, where are you?
Why is it that I can’t see you sometimes?
Where do you hide?
Where are you lost?
I miss your presence.
O soul, please don’t fade away.
Soul is the essence of life,
The life of the soul is you.
Don’t hurt the soul,
Don’t neglect the soul,
The soul is oh so soft.
Built of blood and bones,
The soul resides in each cell.
Don’t hurt it.
When the smoke of the cigarette
Enters the soul through your nostrils
And inhabits your body,
The soul is tarnished.
The soul is adulterated,
The seeds of poison are planted in it.
The life of soul is lost.
Don’t you all look for the soul?
The life loses its soul,
Are you blinded?
Soulless shadows mingle
Around us…
A little girl whose deepest soul
Is purest,
Is raped by these dark shadows.
The army of these soulless creatures,
They are busy killing
These beautiful souls.
The soul cannot bear it,
Thus it hides.
O soul, pray don’t lurk
In darkness.
We need to feel your beats.
We need you in every moment…
Please free the dirty depths of human existence
By re-entering their bodies.
Please don’t leave us,
Please stay.
Please stay, within us,
Among us.
O soul, please stay.
