I am some limb or organ under a head of vacuum
From whence I was born, how I grew up,
Just at 47 how I blew up,
Since none of you told me anything ..
Every limb of God you butchered and divided up
Amongst yourselves, or robbed it perhaps,
Since all of you didn’t leave me anything ..
I am a shadow sans body,
A soul delivered in shame and
Thrown away over some wall.
I roam through country after country
I imagine that all countries are mine
Each hamlet each home, I imagine mine, but
Even a bee is unable to tell my address.
Somewhere here, saffron hands are cutting away
The piece of land under my feet.
From somewhere there, all the dust from demolished domes
Settles on my fluttering body, building up a tomb.
Covering up my eyes with eyelid blindfolds,
Someone is pilfering the cool flesh of my body.
I turn into a corpse unrecognizable to me,
I crash onto the bloody roads of Bombay.
It’s not clear who is crossing over me which way.
Truly, the resident of a vacuous world I am.
Everywhere, any time, a migrant I am.
Drowning half of me in darkness,
I imagine the other half is all brilliance – such delusion I am.
I jump into the inner spirals within myself
In order to murder the soul of time, each and every moment.
I won’t ask for half a kingdom or the state of Anga (1)
I don’t have a tongue to ask for my own torn nerves back (2)
Does the corpse have some land to hide in? But for the living,
A piece of land is enough, a shade over the head – this I proclaim.
The spot you stand on – that’s the most holy place.
Come, divide me by myself, I say,
Not by forty seven.
All my laughter, my cries
My insults, my doubts
My rapes and my murders
They’re all yours too! I say.
This is my mother’s womb-water! Don’t spit in it – I pray.
Oh my enemies who divide and rule!
No one can split me into two
No one can blast the pupils of my eyes.
*******************
Notes: (1) anga raajya: the kingdom of Anga. When Pandavas and Kauravas are displaying their prowess of martial skills, Karna steps up to challenge Arjuna. To prevent a conflict there and to insult Karna, Guru Drona asks Karna to reveal his ancestry. When Karna falls silent in shame, Duryodhana makes him the king of the Anga State on the spot.
(2) This incident too has some puranic reference, but I’m unable to recall at the moment.
Tr: Nasy
From whence I was born, how I grew up,
Just at 47 how I blew up,
Since none of you told me anything ..
Every limb of God you butchered and divided up
Amongst yourselves, or robbed it perhaps,
Since all of you didn’t leave me anything ..
I am a shadow sans body,
A soul delivered in shame and
Thrown away over some wall.
I roam through country after country
I imagine that all countries are mine
Each hamlet each home, I imagine mine, but
Even a bee is unable to tell my address.
Somewhere here, saffron hands are cutting away
The piece of land under my feet.
From somewhere there, all the dust from demolished domes
Settles on my fluttering body, building up a tomb.
Covering up my eyes with eyelid blindfolds,
Someone is pilfering the cool flesh of my body.
I turn into a corpse unrecognizable to me,
I crash onto the bloody roads of Bombay.
It’s not clear who is crossing over me which way.
Truly, the resident of a vacuous world I am.
Everywhere, any time, a migrant I am.
Drowning half of me in darkness,
I imagine the other half is all brilliance – such delusion I am.
I jump into the inner spirals within myself
In order to murder the soul of time, each and every moment.
I won’t ask for half a kingdom or the state of Anga (1)
I don’t have a tongue to ask for my own torn nerves back (2)
Does the corpse have some land to hide in? But for the living,
A piece of land is enough, a shade over the head – this I proclaim.
The spot you stand on – that’s the most holy place.
Come, divide me by myself, I say,
Not by forty seven.
All my laughter, my cries
My insults, my doubts
My rapes and my murders
They’re all yours too! I say.
This is my mother’s womb-water! Don’t spit in it – I pray.
Oh my enemies who divide and rule!
No one can split me into two
No one can blast the pupils of my eyes.
*******************
Notes: (1) anga raajya: the kingdom of Anga. When Pandavas and Kauravas are displaying their prowess of martial skills, Karna steps up to challenge Arjuna. To prevent a conflict there and to insult Karna, Guru Drona asks Karna to reveal his ancestry. When Karna falls silent in shame, Duryodhana makes him the king of the Anga State on the spot.
(2) This incident too has some puranic reference, but I’m unable to recall at the moment.
Tr: Nasy
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