Celebration Drum (“జయభేరి”)

An English-language rendering of “Jayabheri” by SriSri.

Into the conflagration of the world
I too stoked a tinder:

Into the torrent of the universe
I too gushed a tear:

Into the roar of the earth
I too bellowed with a mad throat:

When the summer scorched
Did I not sear like a bat:

As the clouds of rains gathered
Didn’t my stillness turned a flow?

Frozen numb at the cuts of the winter’s cold
I even howled with hunger:

When I alone stand,
Fiery winds, rain clouds, and the falling snow
Will bend over the earth:

Kaleidoscopic stars, peering down from the sky
Will plunge, explode, regurgitating blood:

With shattered days, withered nights,
The great deluge engulfs this universe:

Those moments will come to pass
When I alone fill the whole earth
And the sighs of my moaning cries
Soak the world in a rainstorm:

I too will sprout
As the white petal
Of the lotus of the world:

I too will swoon
As the string
On the lute of the universe:

I too will hoist up
As the banner
On the palace of the earth:

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English rendering: Raj Karamchedu.

Original in Telugu: “Jayabheri” (“జయభేరి”) by SriSri. See here (external link, not affiliated with Saaranga).

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Featured image: Nude Woman on the Rocks (?) by Odilon Redon (WikiArt.org)