From my window only darkness
in the nearby cemetery.
Then I hear the jackals,
howling in the night.
Sheets of lightning show
dark silhouettes of ghostly trees,
broken headstones, tangled creepers.
Then in my dreams,
I hear it still:
the echo of barking
through an impenetrable jungle.
a pack of jackals still pursues me,
fangs barred, ears pricked,
eyes yellow, amber, gleaming.
These are the spirits of the dead.
Dogs of the underworld
hunting, howling, at dawn and dusk.
Sarah Das Gupta
Sarah das Gupta is a poet from Cambridge, UK who has taught English in India, Tanzania and the UK. Her work has been published in journals and anthologies in over twenty countries from Australia to Kazakhstan. She has recently been nominated for Best of the Net and a Dwarf Star.