vimal kumar -translated by shoba narayan

To See That Beauty Was A New Experience For The
Mirror
vimal kumar
Translated by
Shobha Narayan
In the town,
that has forests all around
big trenches, deep moats and caverns wide,
she lived
in fearful darkness,
like a flickering candle.
worn out, bone-weary,
did she work
day and night.
Years ago,
did I see her
outside the forest
roaming with a man
she was youthful then
on her face was an unfathomable richness,
inside her was a storm brewing,
that propelled her.
She took wings,
but vanished was her laughter
amid all this.
In the same forest
did I meet her again
drop-dead tired was she
as if war-wounded
smeared in blood.150 :: April-June 2009
But very noteworthily,
more than ever before
she appeared to be free,
like the vast skies above,
like the she-swan
soaring over the swinging seas below.
Momentarily was she like a flower,
in full-bloom
separated from its branch.
Now,
her courage was her ornament;
her confidence
adorned her forehead
stuck like a vermillion mark.
she had radiance on her face
that nature lent her,
as she fought with its elements.
Today,
she has her own discourse,
in its brilliance
glittered words
as if they were
diamonds.