The Shared Mirror

Mother!

Why do you stand near that grave

And weep like that? 

Why do you grieve so alone,

Sobbing uncontrollably? 

The son you raised and who fought for you

Is no longer in that grave.

Instantly, he had shaken himself awake

Rose from the grave and taking up his weapon,

Returned to the battlefield

Mother! Wipe your eyes

And bless the struggle. 

My translation of the Telugu poem 'ammaa!', from the collection of poetry 'Sivasagar Kavitvam', by K. G. Satyamurthy ('Sivasagar').

Written in July 1972 when the leader of the Naxalbari movement, Charu Mazumdar, was martyred in police custody.

Honourable Justice!

The Sunrise is not a conspiracy

The Sun is not a conspirator

Are the pregnant woman's labour pains a conspiracy?

What will you call the progress of the chariot of history?

Honourable Justice!

The demoniac feudalism that tucks the earth,

Rolled like a mat, into its armpits is a conspiracy

The comprador's treachery

That sells my country to foreign powers is a conspiracy

The peace pact signed

At Kosygin's leprous feet is a conspiracy

There's a plot

In the food that Nixon's ships bring

Indian independence is a conspiracy

The ballot box is a conspiracy

'Garibi hatao' is a conspiracy

Indira's smile is a conspiracy

The arrogance in the half closed eyes of the shastra of injustice,

Lying in ambush to hang the Sun, harbours a conspiracy

Honourable Justice!

The Srikakulam dawn is not a conspiracy

The guerilla Sun is not a conspirator

Isn't Sunrise the tearing down of darkness?

Isn't Sunrise the sharing of warmth and light among the people?

Honourable Justice!

You're very..just

In unjust destruction, as just as Yama.

My translation of the Telugu poem ''kuTradaaru' vaaj~nmuulam', from the collection of poetry 'Sivasagar Kavitvam', by K. G. Satyamurthy ('Sivasagar').

Written in June 1973, this was the poet's testimony in the court as an accused ('conspirator') in the Parvathipuram Conspiracy case.

Waves under watch!

Dreams that waves bear under watch!

The soft breeze like sitar music

That shows love for the waves under watch! 

The boats

That move on the waves under watch!

The sails of the boats under watch!

The whiteness of the sails of the boats under watch!

Waves over the gallows!

Waves behind the bars!

Waves in tears! Waves!

Waves in the jungle! Waves!

The people are the sea! The waves are the squad!

The waves are dear to the sea!

A knife to the throat of the waves!

New blood from the waves' wounds!

New blood from the waves' wounds

Under the hooves of the sea pirates' horses!

Pirates driving daggers into the ocean's heart

And drinking its blood! Sea Pirates!

Sons of the clay footed great demon

Bandits who roam freely on all shores! 

The waves wept

The great sad sea

The waves raised questions

A great roar filled the sea

The waves moved

A great wind all over the sea

Flames on the tips of the waves

An inferno in the sea

The waves moved

The waves roared

The waves wove circles

They touched shore after shore

They brought down the clay footed great demon

On a desert island.

Who can stop the waves?

Who can stop the sea?

Waves as the ocean's labour pains

Are poverty's dreams for tomorrow

Waves are the sea's sword

Waves are the sea's pen

Dawn full of waves

Waves waves waves

Inside you inside me

Waves

Dreams

That waves bear

Heads

With dreams chopped off 

Waves under watch!

Dreams that waves bear under watch!

The soft breeze like sitar music

That shows love for the waves under watch!

My translation of the Telugu poem 'alalu', from the collection of poetry 'Sivasagar Kavitvam', by K. G. Satyamurthy ('Sivasagar').

Written in May, 1971.

The poet says:

I recited this poem on the Visakhapatnam beach, standing in front of the roaring sea, in protest against the increased surveillance and harassment of members of 'ViRaSam' ('Viplava Rachayitala Sangham' or 'Revolutionary Writers' Association').'Waves' ('alalu' in Telugu) are the people, revolutionary poets. 'Dreams' ('kalalu' in Telugu) are the symbols of the revolution. 'Soft breeze like sitar music' is the people's revolutionary movement. Waves are also revolutionary squads. The 'clay footed great demon' is imperialism. 

Moonlight in the jungle

Stood upright

On the summit of the mountain of thought.

Now it shines

On the villages and deer

And streams.

In the great cold of repression

Wearing the steel armour of ideals

With its finger on the trigger  

It stands guard over unfolding history

All day and night.

It teaches people's power

The sword drill 

It cautions

Time.

Moonlight in the jungle!

Such beautiful moonlight!

Wearing the uniform of sacrifice

It lowers the clouds to the ground.

My translation of the Telugu poem 'aDavilO vennela', from the collection of poetry 'Sivasagar Kavitvam', by K. G. Satyamurthy ('Sivasagar').

The poet says he wrote this poem in 1985, sitting on the top of a hill in Bastar (then in Madhya Pradesh), during a period when he was a part of an Adivasi movement. 

Two eyes

          Only one vision

Two lips

          Only one silence

Two hands

          Only one form

Two lives

          Only one dream of revolution

I am the ashes

          She is the Phoenix

My translation of the Telugu poem 'Phoenix', from the collection of poetry 'Sivasagar Kavitvam', by K. G. Satyamurthy ('Sivasagar'). Written on August 12, 1987.

~~~

Red

The Kondagogus* are red

The gallows

wears a janeu.

It's a pandit

that offers sandhya vandana and chants vedas;

It is 

a lighthouse

in the heart of manu dharma;

It's the venom bearing fang

of the four-headed

Hindu serpent king;

In the shade of its hood

the Hawala-wallahs enact their orgies of greed.

Chalapathi, Vijayavardhanam

struggle in its venomous fangs !

You might disagree

but Sriman Gallows Shastri

has limitless love

only for the untouchables..!

My translation of the Telugu poem 'Chalapathi Vijayavardhanam', from the collection of poetry 'Sivasagar Kavitvam', by K. G. Satyamurthy ('Sivasagar').

Gantela Vijayavardhana Rao and Sathuluri Chalapathi Rao were a couple of Dalit convicts who had been sentenced to death by a court in Guntur in 1995. For more details, please read this news story.  

The seed, dying,

promised the crop

The little flower, withering,

promised the fruit, with a smile,

The forest, burning,

promised the conflagration

The sunset, shaking hands,

promised the sunrise

Immortality is beautiful.

Embracing time, it

promised a new world.

My translation of the Telugu poem 'amaratvam' by K.G. Satyamurthy ('Sivasagar'), from his collection of poetry 'Sivasagar Kavitvam'.