Ancestral Hymn

Ancestral Hymn

When I heard them singing Hulio song
Rubbing the soil with flattened toe, dancing
With tongue loosened like a child
And eyebrows wrinkled as myriad folds of experiences,
I imagine of bygone days 
When the deep shadows of thick canopy of bamboo groves 
Covered the stories of ghosts and sorcerers
And of tireless exodus of my grandparents
In their heart. 

Standing tall and mysterious
When the bamboo groves dwindled in a moonlit night
Perhaps, my grandpa touched her bosom and sang the same Huloi song
For the forthcoming children.

Now, I no longer see the bamboo groves. 
Gone those howling of the foxes that terrified me and my sister.
Here, in this remote village of Bengal
Where Facebook and Instagram made their easy way 
Through the loopholes of our unconscious mind,
The fainting tune of Huloi song 
Brought back in my mind my ancestral hymn. 

  Ancestral Hymn is a collection of short, blank verse poems in original English by J. B. Chandal. This is the first poem in this collection.