An untitled transcreation

This should not offend you, but

Our love,
that we had silently buried
before it could be a boy or a girl,
beside the markings
next to the lifeline on your left palm,
yesterday night, I kissed it
without letting you know

It asked me:
Why?
Is this the love
you had forgotten to part in my last birth
or is it in repentance for a future
where you will abandon me on the street?

I said: Neither.
On a rain drenched evening in this birth
just before the dusk could hang
the roadside banyans upside down,
a Lambretta scooter passed by
and in its irritant sound
torn into two
I and she,
the one who couldn’t mother you,
ran into two separate houses
to keep our selves dry
You are the chastisement
that we were handed over

It smiled and got up
Holding my kiss in its delicate palms
it followed my footsteps to my house

You might rue this loss,
but feel free to settle scores tonight
without letting me know


“Vizhuppu” A poem in Malayalam by Anwar Ali
Transcreation by Vijay © 13th June, 2007