Just as a lotus
Today at this eventide of life
What a store of reminiscences billow in the heart ;
Ah, in gay abandon I'd revelled
In boyhood frolics with many a playmate !
Having penned a love-song or two
I set them to tune on the strings of my lute,
The sun-moon-stars danced passionately
The pleasant breeze of spring began to blow !
The summer-birds arrived to pour
The heavenly nectar upon the cosmos,
I fail to perceive -- on the canvas of fantasy
Whose enchanting image now rests in art!
My dearest tender blossom of life,
So sweetly abloom just as a lotus.
Translated by Krishna Dulal Barua
Ambeswar Chetia Phukan (b.1912-d.1994) was an Assamese poet and lyricist.
Krishna Dulal Barua is a prominent translator and writer based in Nagaon, Assam. He received the Katha Award for translation in 2005.