MASJID ROAD
Shamik Banerjee

Fishmongers’ cleaver knives don’t rest at all;
Their heavy thuds outdo the termless spiels
Of colporteurs dispensing large and small
Versions of holy books. On mud-sunk wheels,
Waxed apples, sapodillas, apricots
Effuse their fragrance, trapping passersby
Who check the rates, then stand submerged in thoughts—
Some fill their punnets, some leave with a sigh.
Outside the mosque, blind footpath dwellers wait
To hear the clinking sound—the sound of true
Relief—while dogs, flopped by the butcher’s gate,
Get jumpy when he throws a hunk or two.
Loudspeakers, placed on high, say “call to prayer”
And all work halts; there’s silence in the air.