'Winter' by Bhanuji Rao

Translated from the Odia original by Sailen Routray

A Winter Scene in Central Odisha in January 2018
Photo Credit - Wikimedia Commons

The time of complete and completely satisfying 

old age and death has come. 

The time has come for old women 

with their spare mattresses under the armpits 

to roam around the deserted streets, 

to search for heaven in the reluctant sun;

to dig out an iota of warmth 

from the dying embers 

when there is none.

 The breeze draws kinky lines 

on the old body of the night;

and, it is rumoured by the oldies 

that a few of them will conk off this year. 

The exact number is unknown.

But they still continue with their pronouncements, 

with their cheekbones high, 

like the barren ridges around Joda.

This year it’s really cold 

and the chill pervades the edges of the village 

like a stalking assassin.

The mango orchards are still. 

The doves are drowsy 

suckling warm sin 

from the ends of dry twigs 

for a fill.

Sand has flooded the river. 

The horizon mists over. 

With the gray hills afar, 

gloomy like faded dreams.

The day ends 

and the bland gray night closes in. 

The sun dies suddenly 

while playing with the colours 

of its own blood. 

Winter comes like a cruel hunter 

clumsily snuffling through the body of darkness 

with the night as a flimsy cover 

to peep into the misery 

of the pregnant and the dying. 

The day of tortuous degeneration has come, 

The day has come for spending tortuous nights.

Note: Bhanuji Rao (1926 - 2001) was an Odia poet born in Cuttack. He worked as a journalist and teacher, working as a language instructor at LBS National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, for seventeen years. His work as a poet (along with that of other pioneers such as Guruprasad Mohanty) was crucial in the transformation of Odia poetry in the post-independence period. He was quite belatedly honoured with the central Sahitya Akademi award for his collection 'Nai Aarapaari' - 'On the Other Shore' in 1989. He was the grandson of famous Odia poet Madhusudan Rao, and never married. 

Copyright of the English translation rests with the translator.