Farewell by Jiban Narah (trans. by Lyra Neog Bora)

On the  day  our sister left our home
She left an unbearable emptiness there

For she loved to sing alone
A room of her own was built

The sad resonance of her singing
scattered in the room
hurts us now and then

With the boy she loved
she left us forever- that is the custom
but not very easy to accept

because she loved the ‘simalu’ blossom
she never told a lie to the river

And the day she sailed downstream
her sorrow began growing

Jiban Narah (born 1970) is the author of six books of poetry in Assamese. Considered a popular and influential poet in his home state, he has been translated into other Indian languages, including Bengali, Hindi, Manipuri, Marathi, Oriya, Gujarati and Tamil. A book of English translations of his poems, The Buddha and Other Poems, appeared earlier this year. He is also a writer of fiction and essays. He works as a college lecturer in Nagaon, Assam.