Issue: Vol. IV, No. 1, May-July, 2025
Homage of the moonlit night
The night was well enchanting
White as my wrapping sheet.
There was moonlight:
A portion of it was standing in the front yard;
Another portion was sitting crouched
Beneath the bullet-wood tree at the gateway.
I rose and moved to the river-bank.
The moon was bathing
In the sandbank at the other side,
Our eyes met,
The moon was mortified—and
Plunged into the clump of kans grass.
I caught sight of a 'riha' end emerging suddenly;
My mind raced— to you.
From the bullet-wood tree
Three droplets of dew dropped.
I rubbed my eyes and looked:
—With a white 'chadar' wrapped round
The night had slumped for slumber
Upon the sky.
*Riha, Chadar— wrapping cloth & breast-cloth used by Assamese women.
Translated by Krishna Dulal Barua
Sushil Sarma was an Assamese poet and writer.
Krishna Dulal Barua is a prominent translator and writer based in Nagaon, Assam. He received the Katha Award for translation in 2005.