I was returning
Home
Yesterday
Along the walkway
Through the paddy field
All set for reaping.
As usual
It was dusk
You know
I don’t go
To the paddy field
Except in the evenings
An evening
Of a day
Suffused with
Sighs, monotony
And unpleasant jobs.
In the middle of
The daily
Skyward incantations
“Whom do I have
To claim as my own”
Got bored
Thinking about
The number of times
I have been doing the same.
You know
That boredom
Makes me miserable
Facing
That ripened paddy field
I lighted yet another cigarette
For a moment
Had plans
To set
The crowless
Heaps of hay
On fire
Imagined
A cigarette
Resembling a bundle of hay
Suddenly
You walk
In front of me
Trance like
Unaware of paddy stalks
Chatting to you
Or the two homebound mynahs
Passing comments at you
A leaf of the coconut tree
Sang a song
About you
You weren’t listening
Or seeing anything
You were the swiftness
Of a deer
Leaping
From one life to another
You were walking
The world expelled
Out of you.
Amidst the tenth puff
In the interval of a sigh
I saw you approaching me
You didn’t talk to me
Or show signs of seeing me
You are about to pass me now
And quite unlike you
You had your hair, ******* and face draped
By a shawl
No, that shawl
Was not violet in color
I hadn’t seen
Such a
Forlorn
And distressed walk
In any of my
Past lives
I realized that
You were crying
While walking
I saw
The seeds of your tears
Fall and germinate
In the walkway of the field
I feared
It would grow
Into a forest
You are leaving
Without a backward glance
My melancholy
Where did you go
Yesterday
Leaving me
All alone?
translator : Shyma P
Jan 26, 2016
Jan 26, 2016 at 2:07 AM UTC
I was returning
Home
Yesterday
Along the walkway
Through the paddy field
All set for reaping.
As usual
It was dusk
You know
I don’t go
To the paddy field
Except in the evenings
An evening
Of a day
Suffused with
Sighs, monotony
And unpleasant jobs.
In the middle of
The daily
Skyward incantations
“Whom do I have
To claim as my own”
Got bored
Thinking about
The number of times
I have been doing the same.
You know
That boredom
Makes me miserable
Facing
That ripened paddy field
I lighted yet another cigarette
For a moment
Had plans
To set
The crowless
Heaps of hay
On fire
Imagined
A cigarette
Resembling a bundle of hay
Suddenly
You walk
In front of me
Trance like
Unaware of paddy stalks
Chatting to you
Or the two homebound mynahs
Passing comments at you
A leaf of the coconut tree
Sang a song
About you
You weren’t listening
Or seeing anything
You were the swiftness
Of a deer
Leaping
From one life to another
You were walking
The world expelled
Out of you.
Amidst the tenth puff
In the interval of a sigh
I saw you approaching me
You didn’t talk to me
Or show signs of seeing me
You are about to pass me now
And quite unlike you
You had your hair, ******* and face draped
By a shawl
No, that shawl
Was not violet in color
I hadn’t seen
Such a
Forlorn
And distressed walk
In any of my
Past lives
I realized that
You were crying
While walking
I saw
The seeds of your tears
Fall and germinate
In the walkway of the field
I feared
It would grow
Into a forest
You are leaving
Without a backward glance
My melancholy
Where did you go
Yesterday
Leaving me
All alone?
translator : Shyma P
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