Song for the self

Bharat Majhi

Translated by Sailen Routray

 

Selfie Christopher Flach NYC self portrait
Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org/Christopher Flach 

I understood 

as much I heard.

Janhi flowers strewn across the branch,
stretched away 

after shooing me out of their way;
the clouds opened their mouth,
and then spit out the rains.

I put my ears 

close to the heart of the clouds,
and heard.

And I understood 

as much as I heard.

I had nothing to say,
absolutely nothing indeed!
then why was I being called 

by the forest, 

the river 

and the birds?
Why was the sun rising,
and making me rise 

above the noise of the streets?

All my ancestors are busy

climbing stairs,

and all my successors 

are busy counting them.

Does anyone listen 
to the cribbing of someone 
who cannot speak? 
Definitely not the eyes 

about to brim over with tears,
or the flowers 
that bloomed out of season.

For the sleep-addicted time, 
therefore,
I have nothing,
nothing indeed!

I understood 

just as much I heard.

Note: The poet, Bharat Majhi (born in 1972 in Kalahandi), works in an Odia language media house in Bhubaneswar. He has published nine volumes of poems in a poetic career spanning more than three decades. Amongst other recognitions, he has won the Bhubaneswar Book Fair Award in 2008 and the Sanskriti Award in 2004.