Poetry at Sangam
Poetry at Sangam showcases poetry in English and translations as well as essays on poetics and news of new releases.
Again, yet again, today
a heart brimming with love
was sapped and cracked
by someone unsuspected.
Moon hid her face behind a cloud’s gloom.
The sun’s-eyes darken, lined with grief’s antimony.
Forgetting their playful twinkling, stars shrank in fear.
Last night was a trying time for the sky.
Terrible darkness. Darkness blinding & unimaginable &
light struck a deal. They dropped their hate anger differences.
In solidarity they read the meaning of each other’s’ words.
“We must stand with mad Majnu,” they said.
Light paled and paled further and took ill.
Last night was long; it has exhausted the sky.
Majnu, the Mad One only saw irises, mazaarposh, blooms
of the graveyard, blooming everywhere thick.
Night asked the moon and stars to leave.
“Go,” she said, “and sink into the nether world
for I must weep to lighten my grieving breasts.”
Wind rushed in howling, “I too am made of this grief.”
Suddenly a cloud appeared and the sky filled its eyes with tears.
Joyous birds stifled their voices, silenced their songs.
Tunes of the nymphs turned into wails unending.
On the wedding train flowers were showered with love but
the Mad One only saw irises, mazaarposh, blooms
of the graveyard, blooming everywhere.
A sigh rose from a mother’s heart but her lips curled back.
She held her breath. It burst out as a dirge.
“Why did you embrace
this death pallor, songbird, my bulbul?
If only, loved one, I could
deepen your hue with blood from my throat!”
NOTE
“Blood of my throat” is frequently used imagery in Kashmiri love poetry.
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