A POEM LOST - SUBRAYA CHOKKADY'S 'KALEDU HO:DA KAVITE' ಕಳೆದು ಹೋದ ಕವಿತೆ

Kannada original: ಕಳೆದು ಹೋದ ಕವಿತೆ KALEDU HO:DA KAVITE

Poet: SUBRAYA CHOKKADY

Translated into English by: S Jayasrinivasa Rao

 

A POEM LOST

 

Getting off and on a bus, getting off again,

running through crowds, crossing the road,

jumping on to the footpath, searching for a path,

like an aimless journey…

 

As I walked on,

a poem that I had with me for long

was lost.  As if it were picked from my pocket

or due to my own haste.

 

The journey started again, amidst mounting anxiety,

looking for my lost poem.

Scanning all around with my eyes,

walking on the footpath and stumbling,

I felt I saw the face of my poem on a passing bus.

As I got on to the bus, I felt it flashed from the footpath,

that face, the same face

 

When I got off,

at the distant crossroads,

among the crowds,

somewhere far off, 

at the topmost floor of some building,

with someone in a dark corner of a bar,

that face, the same face flashed.

 

The face that would flash like lightning

and disappear.

 

Time passed on as I searched on,

never again would I see the

face of that lost poem.

*****