Who am I
When I asked Who am I Mother smiled and said My child When I asked Who am I He heard and said My better half When I asked Who am I They giggled and said Our mother When I asked Who am I Celestial music seemed to come drifting Through the air Beethoven sprang up You're our old mother You're our old mother This time I asked my very self Who am I Banging against the sky Banging against the hills There was a reverberation An infinite query Remained revolving Till eternity
Stanzas
(1) Songs of crickets Come drifting A summer night Slumber doesn't easily descend Lightning flashes Upon the grass drop Pearls ! (2) Veiling Of silvery light Upon the woods Who has taken off The green veil As it were a mere trifling ! (3) On the mounds of my garden Lines of mulberry trees Father wasn't at all perturbed The red colours too Can spread across The evening sky So swiftly
Translated by Krishna Dulal Barua
Jubilee Gogoi is an Assamese poet based in Dulijan, Dibrugarh, Assam. She has three collections of poems to her credit.