Address

Basudev Sunani

Translator - Sailen Routray

Grunwaldzki Bridge, Wrocław, built 1907
https://commons.wikimedia.org/Jar.ciurus

I could never summon up 
the insolence to show 
a torch to the river

or to lean a ladder at space.

But still my voice 
rings within the petals 
of every unnecessary word.

I am still there 
in the shrunken breasts of 
the old woman 
carrying the lights on her head
in front of that marriage procession.

I am still there 
in the bowl of the ill, old man
hollering for five paisa coins
in front of the temple.

And, I am still there,
in the wavering dreams
of the infant sleeping 
in the soft dryness of the platform,
in the December cold.

Still you need an address!
Strange!

From the beginning to the end, 
my presence extends 
like a flickering line of ants, 
and, resounds like the pounding of cymbals.

Still you need an address!
Strange indeed!

For my address 
you no longer need to send the parcel 

marked care/of either 

the sun or the moon.

If you can,
then please send me
dreams of a sunny idyll;
for I continue to live
in the dark lane, 
where I always have.

Translator's Note: Basudev Sunani (b. 1962) is one of the foremost poetic voices of his generation in Odia literature. He has a body of prose in the form of novels, monographs and essays in the language as well.