Sonnet Mondal est un poète indien de langue anglaise, qui vit à Calcutta. Les Journées Poët Poët ont eu l’honneur de l’inviter en 2025 et en 2026. Son dernier recueil, Clamour for a Handful of Rice, est moins méditatif, plus engagé que les précédents. Il y évoque l’horreur de la guerre. La citation de ce dimanche est extraite de ce recueil.

Today a Missile Struck the Head of Buddha

Gods -- their names echo in spaces
where tanks traverse playgrounds.

The world moves and the hands of clocks move farther apart.
Palms folded over our hearts     we sit inside roofless houses.
We still think about preserving our faith.

What when a missile topples the dome of a mosque ?
      when it rips apart the clapper of a temple bell from its mouth ?

Today a missile is stuck in the head of Buddha.
Where will the birds sit now ?

Today the rice bowls are filled with bullet shells.
How would you teach hunger to value our gods ?

Sonnet MONDAL, « Today a Missile Struck the Head of Buddha », Clamour for a Handful of Rice, Copper Coin, Ghaziabad, 2025, p. 3.