Tell the truth 

Ramakanta Samantaray

Translated by Sailen Routray

Sun setting behind a wild mute swan at Lake Geneva
Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org/Giles Laurent

The flower had bloomed.

The flower, after blooming, had withered.

True.

The flower had bloomed,

was lost after withering and falling off.

So, even its smell has disappeared from the garden,

that's untrue. 

Do not tell me lies.

The front door is closed.

The window on the wall is shut.

Darkness fills the house.

True.

That inside the arrested darkness

held by by the closed door and the shut window

light is not sitting with its legs crossed,

that's untrue.

Do not tell me lies.

The friend who had come 

into the house 

went back following the same path.

True. 

The man who had come

into the house

is exactly the same one who went out,

that's untrue.

Do not tell me lies.

Now tell me, who is that man?

You or I?

Only this once, please tell the truth.

Do not tell lies.

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.