Beginning of History

by Sankar Roy

 
This house was built the year before the scare of Japanese bombing.
 
This shemul tree was struck by a lightning the night after
your great uncle did not return from ________________
 
Your grandmother hides this
fish-skinning knife under her mattress
from the time of ______________________
 
Suddenly this frangipani stopped flowering one day,
just like that.
 
When this dam wasn't there
we moved inland every season and ______________
 
Once a train ran daily between the enemy territories.
 
Your mother's uncle used this steel trunk when __________
 
There was a crematorium in this lot.
 
A yogi traveled through our area in the Year of Elephant.
 
We forgot to name you
during first six months after your birth and then we called you _______