The Shared Mirror

Wherever sound loses
silence wins
after digging for many days
your hands may become sore
but your eyes moisten
soon as you see a little water.

Returning from cutting ribbons at all doors
I realized I had not opened the door to my own room
someone's calling me, repeatedly,
I thought I was being called
I realized later that they were calling themselves.
whenever I climbed up
they invited me with applause
but when I started for the next step
I heard someone asking me to step down.

I roamed all over the garden
a jasmine creeper caught my attention
it had its own personality
whatever it clung to was covered
it could look at the world on its own.
I will win the whole world
some victor
would arrive and win me,
it's useless

therefore
first, I will
win myself
then
I'll run the world.

My attempt at translating  the Telugu poem 'Sweeya Mudra'  (from the collection 'Bhoomi Bhasha') by Dalit poet and activist Katti Padma Rao.

Tags: Kathi Padma Rao

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 3rd, 2010 at 3:01 pm and is filed under Poetry, Telugu, Translations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.