Durgeswar Sarma
There, the car brakes beside the gateway And awaits in unrest. The one inside the car shouts, Are you ready? Come on, hurry up, don't delay. It's a long long way Even if we keep going all through the night We'll reach there only in the morning. You don't need to pack any luggage You needn't carry a thing Once you reach there, you'll have everyone Ready to fulfill your needs. This house will remain stuck here Where you'll never return; Time shall wear it down to bits Leaving not the faintest trace. You'll clamber over one house to another Abandoning one after the other A country of your own lies in some other land You're languishing here in peril.
Translated by Krishna Dulal Barua
Durgeswar Sarma (b.1882-d.1961) was an Assamese poet and playwright.
Krishna Dulal Barua is a prominent translator and writer based in Nagaon, Assam. He received the Katha Award for translation in 2005.