Poems of Alokeranjan Dasgupta | Translated by Elisabeth Gunther

I HAVE REMAINED AN EXAMINEE

Alokeranjan Dasgupta

Still I have remained a mere examinee, the bearers, 

having laid me down on the cremation ground 

and taken their reward, began investigating whether 

my singing voice was still intact. A portly priest 

pocketed his fee and wanted to see my bio-data; 

his holy thread was dirty enough, but penetratingly 

he assessed how pure I had been in manner of life. 

Were I to give him a false reply, that scoundrel 

wouldn't give me a chance to enter errata, but simply 

lay me out on the pyre. Even if I were to provide 

the right response, he would sell my body to the flames.

Autumn and winter are watching me now, almost algebraically. 

 

I AM THE BLISS

Alokeranjan Dasgupta

  

I am the bliss you render

     into a lonely night 

so that no-one can decipher

     your identity ever. 

               

I am the juvenile

     élan vital that you

transmute into an abysmal smile          

     so that no-one may find a clue 

to your innermost blessedness 

     beyond pleasure and grief

where you and I each other embrace

     lying on a lotus leaf.

Photo Courtesy: Elisabeth Gunther, Germany