Aagun taader Praan (Fire is their Life) by Manish Ghatak, translated from Bengali by Indrayudh Sinha
Manish Ghatak (1902-1979) was a poet and novelist who wrote in Bengali. He was a writer from the Kallol era, a movement that broke away from Tagore’s humanism and turned to Freud and Marx.
FIRE IS THEIR LIFE
What light, what light, of the sun, as if an ocean
Of flames!
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A torn famished field smothers while flaming pellets rise
The wave of fire floods the clouds, the air, fill faces and eyes
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The iora folds its wings, and totters on the floor with thirst
The bull raises its nose from the fumes, no one nears to touch
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Blood showers down on a bald branch of the butea, drop, drop, drop
The fire could not soak only this cascade of blood
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The fire could not take away the ebony boy’s flute.
The laughter of the ebony girl, the fire couldn’t mute.
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The fragrance of the mahua flower spreads fire on every path
The wine of the mahua flower sets fire to the blood
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The ebony boy and girl, both burn in the fire by will
They cackle, cackle and laugh, and wallow, cheek by jowl
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Fire is their life; they haven’t yet been doused
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Indrayudh Sinha is a student of Social Sciences and Classics at Beloit College, Wisconsin.
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