The Shared Mirror

You can kill a man any way you want

not only by stabbing him

or throwing a bomb,

by even embracing him with suffocating love

                        not allowing him to breathe

you can kill a man.

You can kill a man any way you want

not only by mixing poison in his water

by mixing caste too you can take his life

where religion becomes surplus value

not only the noose

the thread around your waist also becomes lethal

when God becomes the symbol of a religion or a caste

in truth,  no one's a bigger killer than God

Only someone who has lost faith in men

can trust God

Where, the sword of caste

hangs over our throats, always,

the gun of religion

remains pointed at our hearts

human relations can only thrive

as oceans of tears.

My translation of the Telugu poem 'dEvuDiki minchina hantakuDE lEDu' (from the 1996 collection of Dalit poetry, 'padunekkina pATa') by kO.pra.

Sirs!
Weren't we of the superstructure until yesterday
how would we have any base?
Without any foundation
how can there be any structure,
true!

Until now, building everything for you
became our only occupation
leaving us with no building of our own

Sirs!
look at that
marxism, ambedkarism
the ride on twin bullocks has begun
our madiga dappu had turned cold
having drummed the background score for you all this while
today, with reddening eyes it has turned warm again
readying to compose your funeral beat
wasn't it from your blows, sirs,
that we learnt how to retaliate?
The time will come
the time has to come
saved, like the sharpness of a knife,
the resentment so intently saved in our bellies
isn't it only now, sirs-
that it is gathering strength?
We are boycotting your courts
where those who should be in cages
sit on thrones and deliver judgments
the gun might be yours
but the hands that shall press the trigger are ours
we proudly declare!

My translation of the Telugu poem 'meeru koTTina debbala nunchE…' by kO.pra. Found that in a recent collection of poetry by Madiga poets called 'kaitunakala danDem'.