TWO POEMS FROM "KAVERI," A BOOK OF POETRY BY SRI ANIRVAN,
TRANSLATED BY SMT KALYANI BOSE. COPYRIGHT
KAVERI - a book of poetry by Sri Anirvan
Kaveri, in South India, is one of the seven holy rivers of the Hindus.
Sri Anirvan’s only book of poems is named after this river.
Illusion of a Shadow
Isn’t that so, Kaveri?
I saw a mere shadow that day
And fell in love.
A vibration sprang up
In the deep dark void of my being.
An illusion of my mind
Who never utters a word,
I talk and talk, she quietly listens.
Only her frivolous eyes~ sparkling~
Move here and there.
A bud of smile, at the corner of her lips
Slightly opens up as dew-drenched petals
And my lips quiver
With the romantic longing for the touch of a kiss.
You do not have a mind Kaveri
But I do.
That is why
The twilights of dawn and dusk
Remain as one in my heart.
Had you ever extended your hand,
Had you ever raised your cherubic face
And cast the shadow of your dark eyes
On my face…
In utter silence I would love
And closed my eyes.
And watch
Somewhere on the flower-strewn
Nuptial bed, hidden in the depth of my mind,
The moonbeams of Shukla Trayodashi*
Has fallen asleep in languid lust.
I would not wake her up
Only watch and watch
With all the alertness in my eyes.
* The thirteenth bright day after the new moon
CREATION BY GLIMPSE
I keep on looking at you, Kaveri
And wonder
What a falsehood you are and yet how true.
I savor the sudden flash of longing, filtered from your glimpse
At the turn of the road.
And that I scatter
On the brick -red morning sky
With the desolate cry of a lone nightingale afloat;
On the listless afternoon,
Echoing with languid calls of doves;
On the placid evening, heavy
With the sigh of the parting day;
On the dewy ache
Of the last lingering notes of night,
And again
On the quivering tears of the Morning star
Awaiting the rising Sun.
With expectations from none
And genuine love for all.
As if I see
An adolescent girl, humming a tune
Walks, towards where she does not know.
The shadow of the blue sky trembling
On her breast
Like a sudden whiff of fragrance
Coming from a beauty unknown.
Abrupt ends the path
A sudden fathomless depth of complete void in front
And Kaveri plunges into Siv Samudra*…
On my bosom
On the vast expanse of the unattached sky
Silence.
Only the cooing of doves
Disrupts the meditation of noon
And a hand on the extended hand of Night
Brings in messages
From the far-away milky way beyond.
Where was Kaveri? Where did she melt away?
* A waterfalls on Kaveri near Mysore
Kaveri, in South India, is one of the seven holy rivers of the Hindus.
Sri Anirvan’s only book of poems is named after this river.
Illusion of a Shadow
Isn’t that so, Kaveri?
I saw a mere shadow that day
And fell in love.
A vibration sprang up
In the deep dark void of my being.
An illusion of my mind
Who never utters a word,
I talk and talk, she quietly listens.
Only her frivolous eyes~ sparkling~
Move here and there.
A bud of smile, at the corner of her lips
Slightly opens up as dew-drenched petals
And my lips quiver
With the romantic longing for the touch of a kiss.
You do not have a mind Kaveri
But I do.
That is why
The twilights of dawn and dusk
Remain as one in my heart.
Had you ever extended your hand,
Had you ever raised your cherubic face
And cast the shadow of your dark eyes
On my face…
In utter silence I would love
And closed my eyes.
And watch
Somewhere on the flower-strewn
Nuptial bed, hidden in the depth of my mind,
The moonbeams of Shukla Trayodashi*
Has fallen asleep in languid lust.
I would not wake her up
Only watch and watch
With all the alertness in my eyes.
* The thirteenth bright day after the new moon
CREATION BY GLIMPSE
I keep on looking at you, Kaveri
And wonder
What a falsehood you are and yet how true.
I savor the sudden flash of longing, filtered from your glimpse
At the turn of the road.
And that I scatter
On the brick -red morning sky
With the desolate cry of a lone nightingale afloat;
On the listless afternoon,
Echoing with languid calls of doves;
On the placid evening, heavy
With the sigh of the parting day;
On the dewy ache
Of the last lingering notes of night,
And again
On the quivering tears of the Morning star
Awaiting the rising Sun.
With expectations from none
And genuine love for all.
As if I see
An adolescent girl, humming a tune
Walks, towards where she does not know.
The shadow of the blue sky trembling
On her breast
Like a sudden whiff of fragrance
Coming from a beauty unknown.
Abrupt ends the path
A sudden fathomless depth of complete void in front
And Kaveri plunges into Siv Samudra*…
On my bosom
On the vast expanse of the unattached sky
Silence.
Only the cooing of doves
Disrupts the meditation of noon
And a hand on the extended hand of Night
Brings in messages
From the far-away milky way beyond.
Where was Kaveri? Where did she melt away?
* A waterfalls on Kaveri near Mysore
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