Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Birendra Chattopadhyay poem, Indian poems in translation, by Sourjya Roy

 


Birendra Chattopadhyay 

My India


My India

Is of 50 million

Scantily clad humans

Who toil hard in the sun

All day.

And then

Do not sleep.

For hunger or cold;

Compels them to stay awake.


Kings come and go.

Jealousy and hatred

Pollute the pages of

History.

Turns the water slimy.

Shroud air with

Impenetrable smog.

Gradually.


Conspiracies are all around.

Ravings of greedy, power-mongers

Are all around.

Battle and famine come

Together

With arms locked

In warm embrace.


Venomous fangs

Haunt the land.

And Tiger

Strikes terror.


My India knows not them

Defies their summons

Her children still shiver

In hunger,

In biting cold, amidst pummeling

From all sides.

But innocent they are

And twined in fraternal bonds.


Translated by Sourjya Roy    

No comments:

Post a Comment

Sankha Ghosh

Two Poems by Sankha Ghosh  Translated by Ankush Pal Crowd Stoop down, mister! Curl up and get down, mister! Don't you have eyes? Can'...