By Pijush Kanti Deb

My old father shouts at me,
‘’Where is the ladder?’’
and throws me too
into his spring time
to witness a sweet flashback
where,
the shamefulness and fear are seen
climbing a ladder
to reach up to my father’s eye-lids
and
the vices are noticed
sneaking away from my father’s domain
making
his lives sacred,
ethics significant
and virtues well dignified.
‘’ Where is the ladder?’’
my dying father groans
and lands me back to reality
where,
the ashamed shamefulness and fear wanders
for a shelter

far below the soft eye-lids
but the ladder is traceless
making
us ever-shameless to one another
in crossing over the line of control,
digesting others’ due share up
with no fear
and feeling good in demonstrating
our hateful nakedness to one another.
‘’Where is the ladder?’’
This time I shout at my mirror
but before it replies
My father dies saying,
‘’Get the ladder back before you fly up to Mars’’.