Issue: Vol. IV, No. 3, November-January, 2025-26
The Golden Bondage
The stars have accepted the confines of the sky.
They laugh and cry
Sing and dance
But the sky is their limit.
The fishes have accepted the depths of the river
They are happy and sad as well
They gossip and paint pictures
Their happiness and sorrows
Are limited by water,
The birds have accepted the greatness of air
They play games and keep flying
Express displeasure to give it up
But everything is limited by the wings.
Everybody has accepted
A golden bondage
The stars
The fishes
The birds
And yet it is freedom.
A Poet in a Market
The poet is roaming in the market
With a pocketful of coins.
They all invite him— the grocer,
The fruit-seller, the butcher and the egg-seller.
With a hand in the pocket
He counts the coins and buys nothing.
The shopping bag on his shoulder remains empty.
As he enters the grocery
The frightened onions hid themselves in a corner
A few potatoes are coming closer.
Will you buy us?
Do you have enough money for that?
The poet was worried.
He counted the coins once more
And left in silence.
This time he stood before a vegetable seller
And a few cabbages came forward
They greeted him and asked,
“How are you, our poet friend?”
The warmth on greetings elated the poet
And he gave all the coins to the vegetable seller.
Emptiness surrounds him now.
Translated by Ananda Bormudoi
Nila Kanta Saikia is an Assamese poet based in Duliajan, Assam. He has published six collections of poems.