Three Poems of Vishnuchandra Sharma Translated by Kalpna Singh-Chitnis

Today
 

Where flowers could not grow
 I planted the rocks.

Flowers are blooming
 from the rocks now.
 

आज
 

जहाँ
 फूल नहीं उग सके
 मैंने
 चट्टानें बो दी थीं

अब
 उन चट्टानों में
 फूल आ रहे हैं ।

Legend
 

The desiccating river didn’t reveal her heart
 didn’t talk about her sorrows.
 She looked at her emaciated self
 and spoke to the rocks only.
 I acknowledged her, River,
 my grief is smaller than yours.
 
 

आख्यान
 

सूखी नदी ने
 न अपना दिल खोला
 न उदासी का बताया आख्यान
 बस पत्थरों से, बोलती रही
 बस अपना हाड़मांस देखती रही!
 मैंने कहा, ‘नदी! मेरा दुःख तुमसे छोटा है।’

Intimate Journey
 

My earth is
 an intimate journey
 where everyone is engaged
 in a dance
 moving along
 the ripples.
 My earth has
 no boundaries
 no passport is needed here.
 The words and the cosmos
 intensified with sounds reveal
 slowly and slowly a tune
 that binds
 you and me
 together.
 

अंतरंग यात्रा
 

मेरी पृथ्वी
 एक अंतरंग यात्रा है,
 जहाँ हर आदमी
 एक लहर-दर-लहर
 नृत्यरत है
 मेरी
 पृथ्वी की कोई
 सरहद नहीं है।
 कोई पारपत्र नहीं चाहिए।
 सिर्फ़ स्वर शब्द को
 ध्वनि ब्रह्मांड को उदात्त बनाती और
 धीरे-धीरे खोलती
 और खोलती चली जाती है
 और लय में बाँध देती है
 हमें तुम्हें।
 

Poems by Vishnuchandra Sharma has been translated from the original Hindi into English by Kalpna Singh-Chitnis.

 विष्णुचन्द्र शर्मा - Vishnuchandra Sharma (April 01st, 1933- November 02nd, 2020) was born in Varanasi, UP, India. He is an important name in Hindi literature. He was a poet, writer, translator, and editor of ‘Kavi’ magazine. His notable works are “Avaal to Main Sanad Hoon”अव्वल तो मैं सनद हूँ and “Muktibodh Ki Aatmkatha (1984), मुक्तिबोध की आत्मकथा’, the ‘Autobiography of Muktibodh.’
 

 कल्पना सिंह - Kalpna Singh-Chitnis is an Indian American poet, writer, and editor-in-Chief of Life and Legends and Hindi Literature Today. Her full-length poetry collection Bare Soul was awarded the 2017 Naji Naaman Literary Prize for Creativity. She has also authored three poetry collections in Hindi - "तफ़्तीश जारी है," "निशांत" and "चाँद का पैवंद." She won the prestigious "Bihar Rajbhasha Award" (1986-87) given by the government of Bihar, India, for her first poetry collection "Chand Ka Paivand" (Patch of Moon), and the title of 'Bihar Shri' (Jewel of Bihar) in 1988. In 2014, she was nominated for "Honor of Yeast Litteraire" by Levure litteraire magazine in Paris, France and received the "Rajiv Gandhi Global Excellence Award" in New Delhi for her contributions to literature and cinema. Kalpna's literary work has been widely published and translated into many languages. A former lecturer of Political Science, she studied "Buddhism Through Its Scripture" at HarvardX (Harvard University). She also holds a degree in Film Directing from NYFA and works as an independent filmmaker in Hollywood. Website – www.kalpnasinghchitnis.com