The lamp

Ramakanta Samantaray

Translated by Sailen Routray

Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org/Yercaud Elango

Do not be afraid. 

That I would blow the last lamp out

in the dark house,

I don't have that courage.

Don't be happy though.

All the oil of the lamp is over.

Now only the wick burns.

Keep on standing

near the last lamp of the dark house.

Watch, how the lamp dies.

Do not worry. 

Note: The Odia original of this translated poem is sourced from the poetry collection 'Asaranti rekhachitra', published in 2022 by Bhubaneswar-based publication house Barsha Publication. The poet Ramakanta Samantaray, born in 1972, has studied painting at the Bibhuti Kanungo College of Art and Craft (Bhubaneswar), and Odia Literature and Language at the Utkal University (Bhubaneswar). His doctoral work was a meditation on contemporary theatre in Odia. With this combination of literature, language, and the visual arts, he has been constantly working to create hybrid narratives. Apart from being a painter, he has also published fifteen books, including collections of poems and short stories, and novels. He has written and published articles on art, artists, and monographs in Odia. He presently lives and works in Bhubaneswar.