Notre Dame: The Bell Will Toll Forever

Notre Dame: The Bell Will Toll Forever

The sadness slowly settles down in me

Seeing the Notre dame burning

And I far far away can see it on the television screen

And do nothing about it

Except me burn burn burn

Till I am nothing but a corpse

The laughter of a greedy world all around me.

I wonder what Hemingway would have done if he was alive and in Paris now

I am sure he would run to the fire and jump at it helping it to extinguish

A wild thought no doubt but I know it is true

Because Papa loved heroism along with death.

This restlessness of me on this horrible night

Stuck to a room and little whisper with the faint moon hanging outside the window

I curse her for seeing the most beautiful Church being burn

I talk with my best friend from America

I rang my French girlfriend who weeps  standing with thousands before the Church

I ran to the roof and breathe fresh air

The soul within me can smell the burnt embers of a thousand years of art

But a wind came

From the way

Where Europe is

Where Paris is

A fresh cold pleasant wind which touches me all over

I suddenly surrender

I cry in the darkness of the faint moon

I look at the sky at the nearest star, shining

I walk down the steps of my house and come out on the empty streets

And walk towards the bridge from where I can see a glimpse of the horizon

My French friend rang and said,  "The Towers of Notre Dame are at least saved...she is standing high like an Empress of Paris.."

She smiles over the phone

I smile too

The burning stops a bit within the chest

Between the sounds of Paris on the phone and the light of dawn here,  I am

Hopeful again

I see

My youth stands smiling again at the bridge in the first light

 I whisper to my French friend

"The Bell will Toll forever !"  

SUBHADIP MAJUMDAR