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