The World of
Assamese Poetry
Hemanga Kumar Datta

Prisoners

As confinements go
‘house arrest’ is about the best,
you have, conveniently, your own house
to be imprisoned in.

Jails wouldn’t do too badly either
they are at least somebody’s house

wretched are the imprisoned refugees
they are always shut out.

             [ Translated by Pradip Acharya ]

 
A Poem About The Night

(In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will also be singing
About the dark times.
- Bertolt Brecht)

A poem about the clouds cannot make the earth wet
Yet the clouds can,

A poem about the harvest cannot offer a square meal
Yet the harvest can,

A poem about the breeze cannot wipe the sweat
Yet the breeze can.

The night cannot give you a Sun
But a poem about the night can.

             [ Translated by Priyankoo Sarma ]

Hemanga Kumar Datta (b. 1973) is one of the most promising young poets of Assam, and has published a collection of poems.

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