by Shamim Reza, translated by Dulal Al Monsur
The Blue Fig
At the night of creation, in one hand of the blue fig your image was held; in another- my heart. When two thousand two blind afternoons were spoilt at the graveyard, jealous insects began dancing in delight leaving them behind on an icy mountain peak as they took them for fossils. After so long a time my cloudy shadows proved fruitless in making an image of my own in you. Rivers, blind, can’t feel downy banks. In this mute dusk of winter my forgetful mind failed to stir your heart. Forgetting the rhythmic dance out of the scavenger’s smelling sweat, I keep my love pierced in the tamarind shadow.
The Myth of the Nalonda Girl
At last the girl stands on the waves of Nalonda.
Nalonda river floats on the far away universe, floating on under current swims in the space. What an illusion! From Nalonda, the girl, opening the loose end of her sari in the azure, turns into a river and creates waves— and sometimes losing the urban routes hides herself in cauliflower fields. Her neck is sightless all around her breasts — the color of ripe paddy; she has physical Ashar in her bodily luster! There was no winter blast behind autumn, nor the realm of heaven— the goddess girl was out of the physical world. The vessel of kisses goes on heavenly flow. Turning into a plant, the girl lives inside my heart. |