Torch

A bird exists inside
It warbles all the time
Imperceptible it is to you
and there’s a tree inside.

Sitting on it
thousands of birds
always keep singing.
Laden with fruits and flowers
that evergreen tree
never sheds its leaves.

No crisis can affect it
The tree which
always sings spring’s tunes
has countless bloom birds perched on it.

A great river with banks unbreakable
keeps flowing inside
and sings melodious songs.

It absorbs, assimilates
all the seasons, all the transformations:
unremitting agonies
and frenzied torments.

Holding in hand
an ever burning torch,
it keeps moving.

Original (Telugu): K. Siva Reddy

Translated by:    Elanaaga

From ‘Imprints – Images’, the forthcoming anthology of poems translated from Telugu to English by Elanaaga.