All the things she said

Let the flowers be left to the wind

Their perfume will not last long on paper

Let the butterflies fly freely

Don’t make them suffocate in warped words

Their wings are delicate

Good to see the tides turning back

With a touch of your fingers

Sunrise and sunset are beautiful

Only on the mountain

When you don’t have time to notice changing seasons

No need to talk about Spring and Fall

Before attempting to carry streams

Better touch water coolly

When sleep comes in the night

No need at all to write about it

Another thing, I don’t advise not to fall in love

But don’t forget, you are immersed in deep thought.

Choice

Boat is an old symbol. And there is no water in the river. Can walk along the stretch from this end of riverbed to that end.

Boundary line is an old sign. No fencing as such. Can laugh merrily from this side of dik to that side.

Talk about wounds? Always there. Only humans are not found. No dearth of words.

I reconcile to writing a poem—saying what I’ve drawn is not a boundary, what’s erased under your feet is sky blue-line.

What about you? Let’s set aside the issue of broken mirrors. What about broken song?

Dialogue in the Dark

1

I haven’t come here to know about you. Only to meet you. I journeyed through the valleys you fled from, the path you treaded, taking rest under the trees that you had taken.

2

I haven’t come running after you. Only to search for you. You are my friendship. Primal beauty that I had lost. The song that embraced me. My soul.

3

The things you mention are not simple. I know air will not stand still, river will not flow. Though I know water-song will not be heard near dried up stream, somehow I don’t cherish losing you.

4

Not that you’ll transform, this is just to inform you. That’s it.

On an Autumn Night

Seeing the chills within you

coldness pervades the room

Your hands are lit up

with darkness

*

In response to your call

hiding the heart

in the reverberations of rivers–

unable to fathom  your boundaries

I’ve erased the horizon.

*

To spread your scent across the world

the air went about splitting  itself.

Poet

He writes a poem 

over the heart

opening the window –

Over her heart,

he re-writes it

ending it on the cheek –

He plants a small sign

on the lip-edge.

Ecstatic–

For all ragas

he selects expressions

closing the window–

Feels a song

at the end of the night –

And sings it

snapping his chords

Solace               

Cheetah-eyed baby rests

Inside forest-heart

Cozily.

Fish-eyed infant dozes

In the lap of ocean

Serenely.

Starry-eyed kids float

Over sky-shoulders

Securely.

Forest

Ocean

Sky

Amma!

Telugu: Nanda Kishore

Translation: K.Damodar Rao