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I seek farewell
My beloved, I seek farewell
I had wanted to write a poem
Which you could have read till you lived
In that poem, there would have been mention of –
The fragrance of coriander
The rustle of sugarcane
also, of the dew seeping from the trees
and the froth of milk in the bucket
And everything else-
That I saw in your body, would have found a mention
In that poem-
The stiffness of my hands had to smile
The fish plates of my thighs had to swim
And the soft shawl of my chest hair
would have reeked of love
In that poem for you
for me
and for life's every relation
There would have been a lot
But it is too tasteless-
to struggle with the contours of the world map
And even If I wrote that poem, full of good omen
It would have died,
Leaving me and you wailing over its chest
My love, the poem has become very immaterial
As the weapons continue growing their nails
And before every poem
It has become necessary
to fight with these weapons
In a war
Everything is easily understood
as easily as the enemy's and one's own name
and in this situation –
Comparing the roundness of my lips, ready to kiss
With the roundness of Earth
Or comparing the bend in your back
to the breath of Ocean
would have felt like a joke
And that is why I did not…
I could not make it possible – keeping in one line
Your desire to feed my child in our courtyard
and the totality of war
And now i seek farewell
and now I seek farewell
You will have to forget everything, my love
Except this, that I had an unsatiating desire to live
That I wanted to drown, till my neck, in life
You live my part of life as well, my love
You live my part of life as well
(Translated by Rahul Pandita)
