Friday, May 4, 2012

translating shiv kumar batalvi: tū jo suraj chori keeta

a plea

the sun that you stole
was mine
the house you left a black hole
was mine

this sunshine that laughs in your home is mine
without it, a dark abyss is all that's left of my life
it is replete with my sorrow’s scented smell
this sunshine was mine yesterday, as it is today as well

i, ray-less, am it’s father still
in it’s limbs, it is my fire that’s instilled
with the fragrance of my sun it is rife
the sun that was stolen in broad daylight

but you are not to blame for this theft
of the sun, every era has been left bereft
in ever age woefully weeping and crying
some afternoon or other of the sun has died
i beseech you, light-less, ray-less
i, a father impious, standing at your doorstep
come, by my hand i’ll place a sun at your head
come, today, for my sunshine, i’ll fall at your feet

forgive me, i am a body stained, ashamed
before the light of the suns, take not my name
if a ray were to ever ask something, quiet you must stay
or call me a black sun and turn away
this is a sunshine’s father’s plea
from today on, my sunshine’s dead for me
and along with the sun, from today, it’s yours
whose house it laughs in, is the father, of course
the sun that you stole
was yours from the start
my house from birth
was eternally dark

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