Issue: Vol. V, No. 2, August-October, 2026
Next door neighbour
My next door neighbour, a tenant
Has gone to settle elsewhere
In a rented house.
After my final departure
My family members
Will feel,
My friends will accept
That
My departure
Was as mundane
As the departure of
My next door neighbour.
In this world,
Actually
We are all
Next door neighbour.
Translated by Nayan Jyoti Hazarika
Bireswar Barua (1933-2010) was an Assamese poet, writer, critic, and bureaucrat. He has published seven collections of poems. For his last collection of poems, Anek Manuh Anek Thai Aru Nirjanata, he received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2001.
Nayan Jyoti Hazarika is an Associate Professor, Department of English, Duliajan College, Assam.