The sight of all that I had seen-
Of domes and arches and walls raised tall,
Of sunlight upraised,
Like a cat rearing on her paws,
From the terrace,
To seize wherever she chose,
Laughter and merriment floating free…
All the sights I once had known,
Spaces and niches, corners, shades and grots,
Where none have ingress
But whose arms,
As minds and words
Are intertwined,
As in a air above them
Pigeons bill in pairs.
A soft alphabet-
Spilling out meanings-
Impregnable as high castle walls,
Steep as turrets none may scale-
Senses set afloat on
Rivers of the mind,
Fathomless to the world beyond them
Leaving understanding far behind…
I have observed how
At the threshold of light,
The darkness of night
Stealthily wrapped itself
In the colors of
The milky dawn.
And as the star-studded sky
Blinked with a myriad eyes,
The moon pored
Over the courtyard beneath,
Resting with her elbows
On the tent of sky,
Looking down in the pale shine of her beams
At the melodies playing
In the season’s pageant,
One with the time of year,
As night lay dwindling, melting,
Dissolved in a soft web of musical tones…
And I have read
History endlessly carved
Atop the balconies and fluted walls,
Immortal, its whispers rising,
Above the ceaseless tumult
Filling up space
Like the smoke of incense,
Wafting,
Head up-borne, to the tunes
Of swirling, sonorous chants-
Stone speaks after centuries
Flowed, soundless, down
The rivers between
The shores of secret banks…
I have known it all,
Seeing the Seasons
Counting the hours,
As they rose and fell,
Seated on a carpet
Of day interlaced
With strands of night,
Time I have caught
In those waves
As they came,
Knotting and braiding them
Into that precious
Silken tapestry…
Those clumps
Of silken tassel
I may prize apart
When I am borne
To other shores,
Alone, apart,
And out of bounds.
When night stretches before me,
Restless, pointless,
Alone, acute,
I will slowly take those strands apart,
To bring my heart
A brief repose
To bring my heart
Some slight refuge.
Prof. (Ms). Veena Singh
(translated from Hindi by Pearl Pastakia)
