The Gourd-Blossom

A rain drenched flute kept playing

One by one dreams kept falling
like leaves

I am a small sailboat
the note of the flute
makes me reach out to the banks
like a river
I would rather not spend this night alone
I am the lone first blossom
of the Flame of the Forest

With the spiraling smoke
a glow-worm came from the rain
and said:

Do you hear the drenched note of the flute
I had gone looking for that unknown player
but the wind brought me here

You’re not telling anyone that I’ve come
the wind will keep it a secret
if the sky knows he will tell the stars

I’ll spend this night with you
On my body the colour of the gourd-blossom
Put off the lamp
We flower at night.

             [ Translated by Pradip Acharya ]

 
Colours

Right after birth
grand mother had ducked me in the green

My mother picked me up
from among the yellow

The motley threads led me on my path
as the reels gobbled up their length

till I reach the black

the black soaks through my soles

and now, in the blue
my lips merge with another

two vital waves

the dappled waves of the threads
will slowly lead me on to the red

once I am ducked in the red
there is no coming back then.

             [ Translated by Pradip Acharya ]