The Red Dragon-fly | Mahim Bora (trans. Krishna Dulal Barua)

The heart suddenly begins to toss about
in anguish
Has one more remained there as remnant
From those fish long kept alive?

Were those dreams alight
In the cluster of vermilion apples
Unreached by missiles or hooked poles?
– the May-noon perched upon the ebony branch
Whistles out melodies of the woods
The White Spirit nestled in the fork
Pompously plays the rhythm along.

Have those dreams glowed
In the serene quay of the Kolong,*
In the quivering of the fish-hook float
Produced by the dragon fly’s wings?

–  The brutal whiteness of the Doron*
At the other bank
Entered my eye as a gummy insect
The distant breeze whips my nose
Somewhere the ceremonial bath of a bride!

The heart suddenly begins to toss about
in anguish
Has one more remained there as remnant
From those fish long kept alive?

At last evening descends upon the distant horizon
Hesitantly
Even today the red dragon-fly vexes me
In the float of my mind
Would it too be in flight
With the smoke that evening?

*Kolong – a river of Assam.
*Doron – a herb with little white flowers. The white flower of this herb is also called ‘Doron’.

Mahim Bora (6 July 1924 – 5 August 2016) was an Indian writer and educationist from Assam.He was elected as a president of the Assam Sahitya Sabha held in 1989 at Doomdooma. He was awarded with most notably with the Padma Shri in 2011, the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2001 and the Assam Valley Literary Award in 1998. Assam Sahitya Sabha conferred its highest honorary title Sahityacharyya on him in 2007.