My house was by the sea
I love the sea.
It taught me how to nurture dreams
Inside the heart;
And the constant roar of the waves
Fill my heart with agony.
Even now you can clearly see
My ruddy reflection
On the balcony of the multi-storeyed
Palatial house;
And the spectacular view of the sea
With ships passing by up and down.
Either on this shore or that,
The Statue of Liberty
Announces its presence raising its hand
The mighty echo of my voiceless weeping
Rings across the sky and the air
My red-green dress still hangs
In the prison of your vigilant eyes !
I still long for that fugitive mind of mine,
Which loved to gather flowers ?
My severed hand, writhing in pain
Within the dustbin’s left-over,
What does it want to say ? And to whom ?
The chorus of pain gathering
In the midst of the ruin
To rescue the accursed earth or to bury it
In the filthy mire of the commode
I understand and get ready !
Many such tender buds crushed
Under feet and wilt
Many songs forget their rhythms and beats
Even today time stands still
The parched epochal bird still to take wings !
Simplicity still hangs on
The drying lines of the mechanical world
Just like my dress.
Ah, my hanging red-green dress !
Source : HUMMING A PIECE OF SOLITUDE
Poems of ROUSAN ARA BEGUM
Translated by SYED AHMED SHAH
