A fragrance from my village

Dr. Kaluvakunta Ramakrishna

Now-a-days every house

Transmuted into rooms of apartments

As sounds of emptiness – as cages of silence

From broadness to narrowness

From community to loneliness

As if thrown away

Every balcony

Seems to be away from village breath

A lifetime void haunts always

Occasional visits of relatives

from the worn-out village

carry its fragrance with them

They bring endless conversations

weave the creeper of affection to the loneliness

Someone’s lovely call …

Touches the corners of buried heart

plants the rays of radiance

pats with the softness of the soil

now … the room radiates

with village-fragrance

blossoming all around.

(Translated from the original Telugu Poem Palle Parimalam by Dr. Palakurthy Dinakar)