Waiting
Whacking sounds of tender twig lashes on the disobedient arum plants by the roadside
that are bad at spelling
You played the enthralled inspector
I didn't become a school master
but an idle poet instead
In the gap of your lips particles of Dulaler Talmishri
The memory of the first kiss in life remained sweet
Couldn't be a successful lover either
Became a dear husband of someone else instead
Was it I who came away leaving you behind
or were it you who went away leaving me
Even now undecided that one question
Sitting on the bank of a detached stream I'm waiting
The result of waiting is sweet –they say
Is death sweet
When the waiting ends I'll know what is sweet.
*Dulaler Talmishri: A household name of a brand of palm sugar candy.
Translated by Uttam Duorah
Prakalpa Ranjan Bhagawati is an Indian poet, writer and translator who writes in Assamese, the major language of Assam in North-East India. He has drawn wide critical attention through his first collection of poems titled Baladharohi Aru Anyanya Kabita (The Bullock Rider and Other Poems) published in 2021. His poems have appeared in Modern Poetry in Translation; Muse India; Guftugu ; Indian Cultural Forum; Deshabhimani Weekly.
Uttam Duorah, the translator, retired as the HoD, English, Women’s College, Tinsukia and is based in Tinsukia, Assam.