A few poems of Himangshu Prasad Das

 

Five Poems by Himangshu Prasad Das

Translated by Looky P Deka

 

Fire

 

Fire!

He was crying loud.

Even seeing the devouring blaze

I didn't go and doused some water.

No one did.

It was his house that was burning, not us.

 

Alone,

He couldn't quench the thirst of the fire

 

Now, the unquenched river of the fire

is knocking at my door.

Vomiting blood I am crying now

'Fire!'

 

No one is coming to me with some water

No one

 

Alone,

I can't quench the thirst of the fire

 

 

Buddha

 

After a really busy office day

An exhausted Buddha comes home

 

Like a adroit Guerrilla

Buddha markets on credit

From shop after shop.

Buddha argues with one of them

His credits are long unpaid

The disappointed shopper refuses

To provide him grocery anymore

 

Returning from the office

Exhausted Buddha drinks tea

Moves through the lines of the daily

Suddenly the hawker's face comes to his mind

Oh! If not paid tomorrow

The daily will be stopped too

 

Shaking all worries off

Buddha watches Television

He is fond of the regional shows.

Meanwhile his son comes

And Buddha gets busy with his studies

His wife reminds him of the son's fees,

Her sister's wedding gift

And the donation of the cultural night

 

Dazed Buddha thinks of doing night shift

Reads Dale Carnegie to strengthen mind

 

Buddha goes to his wife at night

She weeps

She weeps with all her unhappiness

She wants a fridge

Huge TV

Car

Everything the neighbors have

Why should they not!

 

An insomniac Buddha baffles between the truth

'Being unmarried is being alive'.

In such a pensive night

Buddha breaks all the chains with them

And leaves home to get a life of his own

Searching for peace and truth,

Buddha disappears

 

Buddha couldn't reach the Bodhi tree

Excess cheap wine killed him

A helpless Buddha couldn't acquire the enlightenment

 

N.B.: Whatever he told later on

Was not the pages of the Tripitaka

Were the unwritten stories of a sick world

 

 

Spring

 

New leaves sprout everywhere

In my bones

In my heart

Here, there, everywhere

 

Goodbye!

Oh passing cold

Goodbye!

You were like my sweet sixteen

You were like the first kiss

of my love

 

You are not something

that can be tasted

You are not a painting

that can be painted

You are not a song

that can be sung

 

Please do come

And make me bleed

Please hit me with love

And make me bleed

 

 

Reality

 

Yesternight

She was dressed in blue

And she looked very happy

 

When woken up

She saw herself coloured in yellow

 

But blue was her favourite colour

 

 

Love

At the very moment you stood by me

I realized how lonely I was before!

Just one breathe of you

Sucked the whole of my pains

 

You hugged the lost spring of mine

And brought it back to life

You made me so rich in love

That I could have turned into lordly.