Cloistered, The Gloom, Tete-a-tete (3 poems) by Navakanta Barua (trans.)

Cloistered

The fossil heaved its stony sigh
Moaning:
God’s failures have caused,
All his tears to helpless man.

(First published in 1970)

The Gloom

Last night
Someone poured ink into Umiam
How the streetlights emitted darkness!
The whole day the sky blotted
It with the clouds.

And now,just now
Mixing the gulmar and
The golden cassia hues
The sun prepared
A tiny speck of an orange light.

(First published in 1970)

Tete-a-tete

Ah,it is pleasant
We are sitting ,simply sitting
Sitting silently.
I have so many things to tell
Which I know I cannot ,shall not tell

Last night I talked with me
Of too many this and that—-
I was in an anguish to tell

But now
This is enough——we are sitting.
The sun above is throwing little pebbles of its rays
Through the leaves of the tree,
They are falling on your nose, lips and arms
Not on mine
We are sitting, sitting —-
And we have had our talk.

(First published in1945-46)

Nabakanta Barua (29 December 1926 – 14 July 2002) was a prominent Assamese novelist and poet. He was also known as Ekhud Kokaideu. As Sima Dutta he wrote many poems in his early life. He also won the following awards

• 1974: Assam Prakashan Parisod Award, Mur aru Prithibir
• 1975: Sahitya Akademi Award to Assamese Writers, Kokadeutar Har
• 1976: Padma Bhushan, Literature & Education
• 1993: Assam Valley Literary Award
• 1998: Kamal Kumari National Award