PAIN OF THE POET Original: Assamese: Guna Moran Translation: Bibekananda Choudhury Creator means poet So many innumerable poems did my mother write In the fresh leaf of the heart From the date she conceived me in her womb Who has bothered about the silent poet? I don’t know how much help I could be Having now understood the value of labour of the creator At least I could discover my sangfroid brother As I write My mother lovingly serves a cup of tea And says, looking at me From the corner of her eyes "Poem is one only Only writer is different But the pain of all the poets are All the same" The sun is burning to light others— Fuel cannot give light to others Without burning itself Don’t write much My darling I do understand Even though I could read much ** OLD AGE HOME Origin: Assamese: Guna Moran Translation: Bibekananda Choudhury Had a little time for myself To eat and to sleep That I gave you all Put aside a little amount To tide over the tough days That I spent for you Father handed me a little plot To save me from being homeless That I got registered in your name I built a house With the intent to stay together With my daughter-in-law and grandchildren But there space fell short for me After doling out everything I took refuge as an old horse at your house You pushed me out and dumped here But my mind stayed back there Every moment your memory haunts me Sonny You are all educated Please invent a medicine to control the mind So that Once one turn old Imbibe it and Can move to Old age Home ** FAITH Origin: Assamese: Guna Moran Translation: Bibekananda Choudhury Faith rises and falls Like the reading on the thermometer In the very early morning A man came over And bargained faith Despaired after moving Around the round world He came over And sought one thousand on loan I too am not a millionaire Thought to buy a dress With my monthly savings For my lady She understands me well She said "It is ok if the dress is bought sometime later But if you refuse the person Extending his hand before you for help With great faith Faith would be lost" Pondering over I fished out a thousand bucks for the man Seeing that, My better half embraced me And said "You did plant a sapling of faith At this very morning Kudos!" ** SUN PLEASE DO NOT COME DOWN Origin: Assamese: Guna Moran Translation: Bibekananda Choudhury The claimant to the first garland Is the eternal Sun But the Sun do not descend to accept the garland It has to bow down To wear it The erudite Sun knows it very well We spread his fame and virtues In the absence of the Sun People garland me With the one that is meant for the Sun Once I got it around my neck I got so hooked on it I murmured always the thing that I cannot speak out And pray Looking at the Sun Sun Please do not come down ** THE BAMBOO GROVE BENT DOWN Origin: Assamese: Guna Moran Translation: Bibekananda Choudhury The bent bamboo Was just a shoot once upon a time It cannot say the same To its offshoot Straightening its waist Father looks at the material earth Son towards the sky Never looks eye to eye The skyward shoots keeps gazing At the shining stars They are short of time for the father Caught in the whirlwind of daily chores The wind does not only spin the bamboo shrub at the spot It also severs the head of the shoots After a long time The neckless shoots too turn into shrub Bereft of the tip It becomes useless Only then If the shoots come to senses Time does not allow time
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Guna Moran is an Assamese poet and book reviewer. His poems are published in more than 150 international magazines, journals , blogs, newspapers , webzines, anthologies and have been translated into thirty languages around the world. He has three poetry books to his credit. He lives in Assam.
About the translator: Bibekananda Choudhury, an electrical engineer by profession working with the State Government of Assam has completed his Masters from BITS-Pilani. He has also earned a diploma in French language from Gauhati University. He has got published works (both original and translated) in Assamese, Bengali & English in popular periodicals and newspapers. His translated poems have been published in ‘Indian Literature’, the bi-monthly journal of sahitya akademy. ‘Suryakatha’, the Bengali adaptation done by him of the is being taught in the undergraduate Courses of Banglore University and Post graduate Courses of Gauhati University. A collection of 101 folk tales from the foothillsof Patkai translated by him has also been taken up by publication by GauhatiUniversity. He is presently the editor-in-chief of Dimorian Review a multidisciplinary web journal.
Excellent- Thank you for this poetry I read at first light of morning. Peace.
jd brayton Author
Thank you for these beautiful poems! I truly enjoyed them.
The poems touch an invisible nerve within me that makes me ponder about the more important human aspects of life. I feel the need to read them numerous times to sense the “supersensible.”
Wow, beautiful