God is expected to Arrive 

God is expected to arrive 
For an interview 
Preparation is underway, time is short. 

Many a veteran journalist 
Have taken positions
Questions are arranged
Setting TRP as the target.

Is there any primary condition for becoming God?
How much indifference is needed for godliness?
Does blindness pervade the path to it?

God arrived ahead of time 
And began to speak
Addressing the journalists:
My dear journalists, 
I have a humble request 
Please don't allure anyone 
To attain godliness. 
I have just one cause to be sad
I couldn't become human
With flesh and blood and emotion
Before becoming God. 

Like thousands of others 
I also like to see my distorted image
Standing before the mirror of time 
Hear green notes of my soul.

I forbid you to make me an item for sale
With chandan, incense, flowers and blood.

If possible lower me from the spires
Of temples, mosques and churches 
With your magnanimous hands.

Blood congealed in the dust
In the twenty first century 
Is my blood.
Believe me, now I cannot dispel darkness 
From anybody's heart 
I am a dead sun.

A Non-poem

The pen had no refill
The point of the pencil was broken. 

I had a lot of things to write
My eyes are reading a manuscript of sighs 
On the blank paper.

As I opened the window 
Gentle wind blew in
And turned into a lyric. 

Buds began to show on the Beena tree
Not far away
S.K.C's sun on the pointing finger
Makes a beginning of creation. 
Entire Panbazar is floating on 
The melody of an unwritten song.

Translated by Ananda Bormudoi

Click here to read the original Assamese poems.

Udoi Kumar Baruah is a senior Assamese poet based in Guwahati. He has three collections of poems to his credit.