By Mahim Bora

Fish -- golden silvery, blue violet
Lustre of luminous diamonds 
Fish in millions
Coloured-yearnings
Razor-slitting pace splitting the sea into halves
O' irresistible!

With the flying fins
Shrouding even the sea's wide expanse
Thwarting the waves that kiss the summits
O' eternal, coloured-yearning
Creation's first offspring 

Fish-- golden silvery, blue violet
Hued by birth, hued by colours
And by innumerable deaths :
In varied fish-traps, nets 
In the heart of the Ghiladhari*,
Yet immortal.
O' fish, O' eternal fish!

*Ghiladhari : a tributary of the Brahmaputra.

Click here to read the original Assamese poem.

Translated by Krishna Dulal Barua

Mahim Bora (b. 1924-2016) was a modern Assamese poet, short story writer and novelist.

Krishna Dulal Barua is a prominent translator and writer based in Nagaon, Assam. He received the Katha Award for translation in 2005.