Old Letters
The Letter
To write me a letter?
The envelope and a small
Piece of paper inside.
No date...no name
Only six lines of vagabonds
And loneliness.
Or was it about a journey
And about me?
Who will write to me
About vagabonds but her,
Who will write to me
About journeys but her,
Who will write to me
About loneliness?
She is my other woman...
Writing about her love for me?
Or,
Or is it her final goodbye...?"
-Pankaj Sekhsaria
Pankaj Sekhsaria is Associate Professor at the Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (C-TARA), IIT Bombay. He was until recently Senior Project Scientist at the DST-Centre for Policy Research, Department of Humanities and Social Science, IIT-Delhi. His research interests lie at the intersection of science, environment, technology and society.
The poet uses many rhetorical questions let the reader think about it fill in the gap with their own mind, creating a rhetorical effect by not providing a definite answer.
The poet addresses a woman, who is writing to her lover about her "loneliness", their journeys and "vagabonds". This suggests that the poetic persona has spent a huge amount of quality time with this "other woman" which is only between them. It further conveys that the woman was the only one who knew about the poetic persona's personal life better than anyone else. This is fortified by the repetition of "but her". The poet leaves the poem at a cliff angle, deciding whether the woman will continue to love him or has lost hope, waving her final goodbyes.
Please comment down below on your thoughts of the poem. The comment section is a free platform for your interpreted thoughts be put down and will be gladly appreciated.
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