Issue: Vol. V, No. 1, May-July, 2026
Roving minstrel of the night
When the news headlines were Gohpur Nellie…
O’ roving minstrel
Along which pathway have you come
At the dead of night
Whose scream of a burnt hut have you brought
Bound in your broken lute
The moment you open your mouth
The ashes of burnt flesh come flying
Where’ve you lost your river akin to a blue eel
And your canopied boat
How’d you get across the river
O’ roving minstrel
At the midday hour
On which frontyard would you sing pouring out your soul
The starlit songs of a blue heart
Where’re your eyes your tongue
Who’s snatched away your tongue and eyes
Can you recall where
Recall which boatman had rowed you across
Recall in which locality you were stripped naked
Who’d snatched away those priceless tunes
From your golden throat
Recall
Where’s your river akin to a blue eel
And the canopied boat
Recall
At this hour of the night you’ve come
With the scream of a burnt hut
Bound in your sole crutch – the lute
For a while you’ll again be inebriated in limerence
O’ roving minstrel
Where’s such an abode in this serenity a river
Akin to a blue eel in this placidity
In the forest where’d you find a house
Plastered with the heart’s blood
Within the rocky heart where’d find a gracious repository-river
O’ roving minstrel
Still you’re here standing at this dead of night
Perhaps you’d know better
In what manner should your lute be played
To bring out again
The oriole-like sunlight’s oriolic tunes
Translated by Krishna Dulal Barua
Rafiqul Hossain (b.1954-d.2026) was an Assamese poet, playwright and theatre artist. He has published five collections of poems.
Krishna Dulal Barua is a prominent translator and writer based in Nagaon, Assam. He received the Katha Award for translation in 2005.