[Transcreation] Today

You said something
and an ocean turned into a wave
roaring past us

Like from the drenched pages
of frightened winds
poetry drips in whispers,
then I queried

Did you ask me to
never call you again
or was it
never to leave you again?

Estranged by distances,
our expressions of love and hate
are unfortunate prisoners
of an insensitive telephone

A poem in Malayalam by Bijoy Chandran
Transcreation by Vijay © 27^th April, 2007

(Thanks, Asmita)

[English Ghazal] Don't mind

A tippler, am always on a high, don’t mind
Its sheer joy that makes me cry, don’t mind

Mark my words, I speak only the truth
If a slur precedes my sigh, don’t mind

With Scotch and Cognac, tempt me, you may
Am content with some Rye, don’t mind

Generously, you bought me a drink
If I were to ask you “why”, don’t mind

Please demonstrate that charity again
My bottle has gone dry, don’t mind

You wish to walk me home, you say
After five down, I fly, don’t mind

You are kind, O! My host for the night
Still, my conscience you can’t buy, don’t mind

“Mahfuuz” don’t cozy up to me as yet
You seem dubious and sly, don’t mind


Vijay © 23rd April, 2007

[Poem] A reminder of our times

Once a man walked on a road

From his footsteps sprouted an army
merely to degenerate into many nodes
From each node, popped out a head
To challenge each head, then grew another one

From each challenger, sprouted a fresh node
The fresh nodes gave birth to a counter-army,
an underground one
This counter-army paved its own road

While the heads and their opponents
were lost in their utopian parlays,
the army and its nemesis fought
with many weapons, big and small

The road and its rival met at a crossroad,
to clash in a flash and retreat, headless

Today, on a road headed nowhere, stand
the heads and their armies
with nowhere to go


Vijay © 19th April, 2007
(Inspired by M. Pushpangadhan’s Malayalam Poem “Vazhiyillapokkar”)