Their Death Is Mine…

by Ananya S. Guha / August 23rd, 2026

I am afraid of being a man
I am afraid of darkness, night’s scalding dreams
Suppose I were not afraid of being a man?
I would perhaps start fearing these hills
Interrogate what is and what is not
Look at my primal surroundings,
The  hills around  me and;
Their green blue shades an exacting
Demand for questioning why they live
Meaning is not central to their living
But fear, suppose a bomb explodes
At my feet? Suppose a gun shot
Pierces my ears, then my body?
I will stop short of fear, because
Death will settle all, I don’t want
To see these hills wounded or splashed
With the colour of red, or decapitated
Or see the pine trees cut with a gashing
Wound.
Only these hills will tell
What my fears are as they rotate
In a stillness of seas and I awake
Each day fearing death, death of
These hills, their death is mine
Ananya S Guha lives in Shillong in North East India, where he was born and brought up. He has been writing and publishing his poetry for the last forty years. His poetry has been published in both electronic and print formats such as: Indian Literature, Other Voices, Osprey Journal, Glasgow Review, The Literary Nest, Up The Staircase, Asia Writes, Art Arena, Praxis Online, Muse India, Your One Phone Call, In Between Hangovers, The Peeking Cat Magazine, Post Colonial Text among others. He has also written widely on educational and social matters. He has ten collections of poetry and his poetry has been anthologized in various collections of Indian poetry in English. He holds a doctoral on the novels of William Golding. Read other articles by Ananya S..

This article was posted on Sunday, August 23rd, 2026 at 8:00am and is filed under Poetry.