TRANSLATED FROM THE HINDI BY MOULINATH GOSWAMI

Image used for Representation

WHAT ARE YOU

I had cherished in my mind
an imagination of a dream
which I came across nowhere
You are the beautiful embodied outcome
of that eternal quest

Like my own mind and body
the beautiful dream that rests in my eyes
Like the luminous earthen lamp flame
that unravels the depths of the mirror –
You are one of my sundry monikers

From the countless rays
beaming down pearls of a beaded garland –
this unique creation of nature
and of the endearing phantasm of this heart
You are the caressing expanse of the mind

You, the tranquil repose
of the turbulent tides of my heart

Like a paper white milky river
the unsullied existence of my mind,
like the honey-wood, fragrant
and transparent with dewdrops…
You are as selfless as my mind

Of all the merry smiles of childhood
of all the fanciful imaginations of the adolescent mind
of all interpretations of youthful expanse
of each and every breath of my body –
You are the blooming dawn, night and waning twilight

THE LAST REALIZATION

Death-peace! I do not fear my life today
Do not shed cascading tears today
nor light the fire – dear
My soul this day has turned fearless
                                             
I have found dauntlessness of death today

I have no familiar revolt nor cry inside me today
Heart aflame, breath turned cold
me the one-act forlorn trail
death only as far away as I am from you
But the desire to live is now complete

Now I do not need anything else
No impression of any pleasure
nor pain of drifting away from you
nor the rapture of your embrace

Death-peace! I do not fear my life today

I had wished I would cry at my death
whimpering like a weary infant
Wished to desiccate the splashing river of life
and sleep, resting my head on cold sand
A mellow-gentle shade of infinite love rests inside me today

A trembling torso, perhaps: touching my body gone cold
holding my pale face between your palms
you place your warm lips on my frigid soft forehead
But there’s no susurration inside my body now
no trace of smile anywhere on your lips or on mine

Death-peace! Yes, there is…
there’s the craving for love within me today

Also, read Two Italian Poems by Piergiorgio Viti translated from the Italian by Rebecca Lundin and Andrea Sirotti and published in The Antonym:

Two Italian Poems— Piergiorgio Viti

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