Come again, you foreign clouds
[1]
Come again, you foreign clouds
For it’s from your wings, I gather pearls.
Come fill our lakes again, and as you arrive
At the lake shore I shall welcome you,
In a lotus's shadow, with my black earthen pot
[2] Your season to depart has come, I know. Yet will you not turn at some point, And come back? To the black mosque I shall go, and ask if even in your heart There is some mutual love or not?
If you go by these lanes of dust, I will greet you at their beginnings.
[3] Lest you stop somewhere In my anxiety, I shall Tie around your neck A dozen amulets, and with My antimony put a mark To ward off the evil eye On your white cheek
Come by and touch our gardens, where By the peepul tree, I shall wait for you.
Not knowing, or understanding, folk Hindi perfectly, this is a loose translation of a Gulzar's village lyric "Phirse Aaiyo Badra Bidesi ". Perhaps I shouldn't touch some of these, almost all the beauty dies in my hands!
Translations
... link (no comments) ... comment
The body of a woman
Casts its shadows on the following
Words:
Longing. Desire. Lust.
And when these pass, over on
Mother. Tenderness. Love.
Where they grow as huge as trees On walls in summer evenings.
After this they fall, Simultaneously, over both
Sky and prairie underneath it.
Here grass waves them in the wind. Then clouds sift them through
Calm snow and quick rivers.
So foolish man, if drowning Is what you seek, Drown in any of these!
My Poems
... link (no comments) ... comment
Quick Snapshot Howto
To see me
All you have to do,
Darling, is first write
A capital G (for gone, for
Groundless, for goddamned)
Down on a piece of paper.
Then add a small o On the top edge of The G. Add a dot For an eye. Ears and Mouth are purely optional For I am already mute.
But be sure to add A tilted V in that stoop Of G, one end touching The o’s base, i.e., chin. That is how I am now Thinking, thinking of You.
My Poems
... link (one comment) ... comment
Next page