The Prelude to Creation | Suryya Kumar Bhuyan

The Prelude to Creation

On that day of destruction
You took in your hand, my lord,
Your terrible lyre!

There was nobody joyous that day,
Even the sun and the moon were silent:
Across the horizon there suddenly flashed
Sighs of great agitation-
The day you took in your hand
Your terrible lyre.

The moon –it went off its orbit
Seeking a new sky;
And the garlands of light on the breast of nothingness
Lost all luster on that day.

The sky-it became all clouded,
And there was no sign of the land anywhere.
Over the whole creation
There came down the turbulent waters:
Over all these flew, my lord,
Your message.

In that darkness there reappeared the thousand stars;
In that destruction was born an earth
– A Fragrant, flowery earth.

Mind-a creeper-quivered with life,-
With new words set to new tunes;
From the universe there came to the heart
Rays of the new creation:

The day, my lord, you put down
Your terrible lyre.

Rai Bahadur Surya Kumar Bhuyan MBE (1894–1964) was a writer, historian, and a poet from Assam. He presided over the Asam Sahitya Sabha (1953) held at Shillong. He was the elected member of Rajya Sabha during 1952–53, and was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1956.