[ I just found this long lost translation of my poem done by Basant Rungta during a rooftop poetry reading I did for his organization Srijan on May 29, 2003.]
At least you know Lucy,
How dangerous was our morning
When our veins were bursting, as if yanked out
Lips were not just grazing but delving,
discovering mysteries of each other
Like water discovering water
You were a face, Lucy
and a lot of clouds
And it would be unfair to call them all just water
They were smoke which had frozen
And houses upon houses
How shadows – walked up to you, readying themselves
All that searching all the waters of the morning
On our florid and blushing skins
Which, if burnt by rain,
colors will cover again
But even then, all those life-long angers
might talk of that burning, that arson
and to master that burning, harness its powers
The blood flowing in streams
on guitar-strings
would have to be licked clean
All those clouds, their lumps
have now lifted their veils and fled
Such is the fun of staying alive
Which means
that the mile-long nets woven by the veins,
have not learnt to fly
Are tied to keys of the guitar
And from out of the stomach emerges that very tree
Its roots and shoots
From the mouth grow branches
which peep out and look
From the eyes, pour leaves – exalted in glory
It would be unfair if they are called just water
Maybe all these are words – not flesh and bones
Maybe these are births, being born
Which cannot be sent to you
through broadcasts from a radio station