HOW LONG? (எத்தனை காலம்?)
(This poem was presented by Paa.Jeyapirakasam at 4th Festival of Literature conducted by Manipur State Kala Akademi at Imphal, Manipur on June 6 & 7, 2015)
In the warm tender breeze of morn
the Music of Koel (skylark)
beneath the earlobe,
meltingly sweet.
In the birth of each day
fresh jasmine flower blooms in your courtyard.
Though walking round the world
the moon keeps pouring above your head.
As tender ‘palmyra’ water
sweetening your lips, inner tongue and feelings
your spring water gushing forth-
all these years
were lost to the eyes.
For the sake of Hells
determined by the stomach
Heavens structured by heart
got lost.
Which is ours?
Whose song are we to sing?
The royal court pillars of some fella
that would break into splinters even
In a weak storm of Time
Oh, did you shoulder them
with intellect immortal?
Was it to comb the hair of some unknown head,
wash its face and beautify it
with a ‘bindhi’
that you held aloft
the mirror of literature?
You are destroyed; you got lost.
Were these alone stolen?
Bharathi born to redeem the world with his
Poesy-par-excellence -
The wails uncontrollable bursting inside the doors
broken by the hands of religious fanatics
searching for human flesh and blood
in the very same street where Bharathi lived -
The memory of Vennmani -
The black-day of Villupuram -
The screams of Vijaya, Padmini
stung by poisonous snakes -
The indescribable pain and anguish of
the daughters of Vaachaathi -
The quivers/ tremors of the heart
thudding thunderously for every thin voice
from any nook and corner.
Oh, you’ve lost all these.
Is life for losing?
Is living to suffer humiliation?
Shame…shame….
Where veil itself is so unbecoming –
How can you cover yourself behind a veil
lock, stock and barrel
and parade
calling it Life at all….?
- Suriyadeepan[This poem bears strong witness to the fifteen years lost by the creative writer.]
Translated into English by Latha Ramakrishnan
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