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.

Click here to read the original Assamese poem.

By Nalinibala Devi

O' wayfarer of the unknown road!
Along which way had you come in search of a route?
You've lost the very course of the unfamiliar road.
Whose unheard voice had you heard?
Behind the shroud of the monsoon clouds
The gloomy streaks of the full moon today;
In the glum canvas of laughter and tears
What have you caught sight of 
Unseen before?
In the distant blue sky of autumn
The moon doesn't gleam with its pleasant smile.
Behind the veil of clouds
The pale moon's forlorn smile surfaces.
Piercing the night's darkness
Glows a flame of light afar—
O' wayfarer of the dark road!
Can you now behold the route?

Translated by Krishna Dulal Barua

Nalinibala Devi (b. 1998-d.1977) was an Assamese poet known for her mystical poetry.

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

Click here to read the original Assamese poem.

Anandachandra Barua

Sneaking beneath the lips
Keep peering with utmost stealth,
Beholding a black mole,
Leap into a dance
With a mind beaming with smiles.
Why so avid? I can't make you understand;
After all, I myself am clueless,
Would beauty land me a kiss?

Translated by Krishna Dulal Barua

Click here to read Assamese original poem

Anandachandra Barua (b.1907-d.1983) was a noted poet and playwright of Assam.

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

By Jatindra Nath Duwara

True, everything lies as before
Yet something seems amiss,
The frenzied winds of the past
Has blown it away by some way.
Does the melody sound still
Quivering the leas of Assam?

Is that melody still heard
Upon the wide bosom of the Luit?
Who has robbed me today 
Of the blissful dreams of youth?
Who has laid his cruel hands
On the strings of my endearing veena?

The fallen leaves come flying to say
There's no space on the laps of trees
The boatman with a heavy heart
Listlessly oars away downstream.

Translated by Krishna Dulal Barua

Jatindra Nath Duwara (b.1892-d.1964) was a notable Assamese poet.

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

Click here to read the original Assamese poem.

Composed by Sri Sri Sankardev

O my mind, none but Rama is the Saviour from sin
the nectar of Paramananda’s lotus feet drink in

No penance, no pilgrimage, no sacrifice, no meditation
No mantra, no ritual pieties can bring us salvation

Mother father wife children and all kin will die
O blind mind, leave these thoughts and at Hari’s feet lie

Says Sankara, slave of Krishna, shed all worldly worries
Take refuge at Rama’s feet, and sing Govinda’s glories

Click here to read the original Assamese poem.

Translated by Nirendra Nath Thakuria

Sri Sri Sankardev (1449-1568) was a 15-16^th Century Indian Saint-Scholar, social and religious reformer, poet, playwright and musician of Assam. Borgeet or Songs Celestial is a tradition of raga and tala based Assamese song developed by Sri Sri Sankardev and Sri Sri Madhavdev, another Indian Saint-Scholar, poet of Assam.

Nirendra Nath Thakuria, retired Associate Professor of English, is a translator.

By Navakanta Barua

At night in the rains do you remember your poet 
Arundhati
The dim light making oblivious 
Of the evening smell of your bun 
Do you remember
Arundhati

In the moonlight or gloom 
In love or sadness  cryptic poems
Between us lay the unseen barriers of broken dreams 
Do you remember
Arundhati

Do you remember
The pearls on the dub grass
In the cloud of hair 
The gliding moons of the slim fingers
(For a tide there was no sea) 
Even at the touch cold as ice
How soothing it was 
Arundhati

Arundhati
An instant nest for the bird that came flying 
Braving the storm across the skies 
After a host of dreams
In the crowded snatches of sleep 
That lone sleepless night
Do you remember Arundhati

At night in the rains do you remember
Arundhati

Translated by Nirendra Nath Thakuria

Click here to read the original Assamese poem.

Navakanta Barua (b.1926-d.2002) was a noted Assamese poet, novelist and translator.

Nirendra Nath Thakuria, retired Associate Professor of English, is a translator.

By Nirmalprabha Bordoloi

I saw him trotting away
In a late afternoon 
Along the path through the field.

With a head covering on
And a yoke bending 
Under bundles of rice stalks
Swaying to soft music.

They all followed suit
Golden sunshine of Aghon 
The thatch house neighborhood 
The earthen byelane through bamboo clusters
And the flock of singing birds.

He went on and on and passed out of sight. 
Who can tell
If he will return at all
In this life ?

Translated by Ananda Bormudoi

Click here to read the original Assamese poem.

Nirmalprabha Bordoloi (b.1933-d.2004) was an Indian poet, lyricist and folklorist of Assam.

By Hemanga Biswas

The boy didn’t come back

With only two kilograms of thirst inside
The empty bag riddled with bullets
Has been lying near the drain smeared with blood 
At noon.

From the queue for ration
The boy hasn’t returned till today.
The hungry mother with her naive eyes
Keeps on waiting—
He’ll come.

The other day a shower of rain
Washed the public road of blood stains.
In the cow-dung covered graveyard
On each and every thorn of the desolate Modar
Puddles of blood
Bloomed as flowers.
There spring has arrived :

Waves of red flags
Sounds of procession at the distance
She came out.

“He is coming?”

Translated by Uttam Duorah

Click here to read the original Assamese poem.

Hemanga Biswas (b.1912-d.1987) was an Indian poet, singer, composer, author and political activist.

Uttam Duorah, the translator, retired as the HoD, English, Women’s College, Tinsukia and is based in Tinsukia, Assam.

By Padmanath Gohain Barua

Look friend! Here comes a poet all alone,
Along the forest road lost in his thoughts. 
The tune of the silent lyre
Consoles him and agitates.
The tune echoes silently in the ears of each flower 
Pouring sweet melody to each heart.
Our poet the lover is slowly advancing 
We are all engrossed in the joy of the flowers as he advances. 
And there stands the old tree like one whose hair has matted
Sal, Ejar, Nahar, Kadam and all else
Will forget mistaken sorrows.
We all have planned a bright  picture
We will share thoughts, here comes the poet.

Translated by Ananda Bormudoi

Padmanath Gohain Barua (b.1871-d.1946) was a poet, novelist and playwright of Assam, India.

Click here for the original Assamese text.

Composed by Sri Sri Sankardev

O Sarangapani save me I am a dimwit
None I can see but Your feet
That can prevent hell, O Lord

Close on my heels are Death and Disease
How long will the body take to decease
I am a sinner, my end is getting near
Yet I’ve no thought of Your feet

Look, day by day is shriveling my body
By agonies and afflictions smitten
At the end Kamalapati is my haven
Me Sankara pray at Your feet

Click here to read the original Assamese poem.

Translated by Nirendra Nath Thakuria

Sri Sri Sankardev (1449-1568) was a 15-16^th Century Indian Saint-Scholar, social and religious reformer, poet, playwright and musician of Assam. Borgeet or Songs Celestial is a tradition of raga and tala based Assamese song developed by Sri Sri Sankardev and Sri Sri Madhavdev, another Indian Saint-Scholar, poet of Assam.

Nirendra Nath Thakuria, retired Associate Professor of English, is a translator.