Five Odia poems by Sangram Jena have been translated by Snehaprava Das
RETURN
Is there ever a return?
Do the years left behind,
Or, water flown away in the river,
Return ever?
Do parents who had quit the world
years before come back?
Or, the erstwhile beloved
married now to another man?
What are the things that return
after having gone?
Doesn’t the sun that depart every evening
return on the next?
Perpetually, endlessly?
Is returning a reality
or, an illusion of one?
And, wrapped in it,
life moves on
from the crib to the crematorium.
ROCK*
What did he stumble on?
The unobtrusive block of stone
that lay on his way,
the sacred scriptures, the hearsay
all carried the story that
the sinning Ahalya was redeemed
at the touch of his holy feet;
When Indra had touched her that day,
what was that touch?
Was it a pretence? A betrayal?
It matters little whose touch is it
if there is trust in love!
A pretense of love is sometimes
More intimate than a relationship
that has no life in it!
What promises of redemption the world
That labels love a sin, held out for her?
She was neither a wife nor a beloved
after she was transformed
from a rock to a woman;
Hadn’t it been better
to have remained a rock
and lived the rest of the life
holding on to the memory
of a handful of those ecstatic moments!
*Refers to the story of Ahalya in Ramayana
IT IS NOT THERE WHERE YOU LOOK
It is not there where I look!
May be, what appears to be where
is never there in reality,
Like the face that is not there in the mirror,
Or, the pain in the body,
Will the words that need to be said
Ever be there in written letters?
Does the meaning dwell in the words?
Does the sun sit behind the mountains,
Or the sea ends at the skyline?
Actually, what appears where
Is never there!
SEARCH
There is no point in searching.
A river flows while
You keep searching words.
As you look for the right colours,
the painting fades.
The sun drops into night
as you grope for the morning
and a moon comes up while
you chase the dark.
The petals wilt and drop
before the search for fragrance ends.
The poem is lost
before the right images are found.
While you seek the sea,
The horizon shifts further.
The feet are lost
Through the search for a ground underneath.
The thread of the kite snaps
In the quest for a sky.
The clouds dissipate
While craving the rain,
And the body dissolves
While you look for the shadow.
Ther is no point in a search.
Life fritters away quietly
As you keep browsing.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Life does not flow
the way you expect.
Do you think morning does not arrive
Till the crows’ caw?
Does the kaash not bloom
after the river recedes?
Do you think butterflies never circle
The flower after the petals drop?
Does no one look up at the sky
After the moon goes into hiding?
Do the frogs stop croaking
When the rain goes away?
Can the night be omnipresent
With its darkness?
Can everyone find the way
When there is light?
Doesn’t your shadow stay back
After you leave?
What do you think?
Sangram Jena (1952), is an eminent poet, translator, critic and editor. He writes both in English and Odia and has published more than 70 books. Translation of his poems have been published in several Indian languages including English, Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, Assamese and Marathi. His poetry in English have been published in many magazines in India and abroad. He has translated Classics of World Poetry into Odia and classical, medieval and contemporary Odia Poetry into English. He has received many awards including Sahitya Akademi Award (National Academy of Letters, New Delhi) for translation, a Senior Fellowship from the Department of Culture, Govt. of India and served as a jury member of National Selection Committee (New Delhi) for award of ‘Saraswati Samman’. He edits two literary journals, Nishant in Odia and Marg Asia in English. He has served as Vice-President, Odisha Sahitya Akademi. He lives in Odisha, India.
Dr.Snehaprava Das, is a noted writer and a translator from Bhubaneswar, Odisha. She has five books of poems, three of stories and thirteen collections of translated texts (from Odia to English), to her credit.
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