[Translation] Boxes

Mammoth boxes
crawling upon conveyor belts,
that’s how I see each day.

Moving from one box to another
in the shadows of the night.

Till the extent eyes can see,
boxes lined up, I can see

A week, a month
or it could be even a year back
I wake up one day
Was it a Sunday or a Wednesday?

With bated breath they wait
‘fore winds fill up the vacuum
‘fore silence gives way to sound
‘fore babies move in the womb
as if preparing for an impending moment

Till this moment,
whilst my left eyelid
closes for a while

When something so unforeseen,
unpredictable and unexpected
could only be a deception,
I wonder why we sing of
eternity and star-spangled skies?

I can see the day you live in,
like the bright skyline of a bustling city

Walking through corridors
infested by growling, grumbling incidents

My only hope,
to be born in the one which went away
and to die in the one which is closing in

It could be a Sunday or a Friday!

A poem in Malayalam by Mohammad Kaviraj
Translation by Vijay © 13th April, 2006