Issue: Vol. IV, No. 4, February-April, 2026
The voices of minds
We’ve begun to forget the voices of minds
The eyes of memories have become unable to see pictures
What a lot of voices of endearing minds
Have we heard
What a lot of advents of nature
Have we seen
The sky
Cuddled by soil-water woods-trees
All are silent
A quiet-hushed world
The history of life that we’d seen
The geography of life that we’d seen
Are slowly disappearing
There’s no human without a mind
Day after day we’ve grown unable to see
The voices of minds
Under the same sky
(in memory of Rabindra Sarkar)
A name
Quietly melted away
Most endearing to him
Was my voice
So endearing to him
Was my sky
So familiar to him
Was my breeze
So acquainted to him
Was my breath
Even now the voice rings in my ear
The rebellious words of a simple modest mind
The cautious drills of poetry
Remain soaring in Fancy Bazar, Maligaon
Through thick and thin we’ve lived
So long under the same sky
Translated by Krishna Dulal Barua
Biren Gogoi is a contemporary Assamese poet based in Dibrugarh. He has seven collections of poems to his credit. Shilar Mukhar Hanhi (2024) is his most recent collection of poems.
Krishna Dulal Barua is a prominent translator and writer based in Nagaon, Assam. He received the Katha Award for translation in 2005.