Poem
K. Satchidanandan
WHO SAID?
Who saidthat waiting is a
railway station in North Malabar?
That a dawn in uniform
will arrive there in a coffin?
Who said
that memory is a fragrant window
opening on ripe cornfields?
That our bodies grow cold
as light grows dim there?
Who said
that trees have ceased to follow
wind’s language?
That we must conceal
from lilies and rabbits
the news of the death of love?
Who said
that now noons will be
heavy like a drunkard’s head?
That evenings will have sick hearts
like a lover’s whispered songs?
Who said that we are running barefoot
over red hot iron
with a fistful of childhood rain?
That we will, at the end,
hand over our keys
to the same rain?
Who said that men once dead grow younger
and then they enter another Time?
That all the birds that vanished
at sunrise will return
when the world ends?
Who said
that we would understand everything
with no one saying anything,
but will still not share
anything with anyone?
© Translation: 2002, K. Satchidanandan
From: At Home in the World:
Publisher: Full Circle, Delhi, 2002
From: At Home in the World:
Publisher: Full Circle, Delhi, 2002
WHO SAID?
From: Vikku
Publisher: DC Books, Kottayam
Publisher: DC Books, Kottayam
Poems
Poems of K. Satchidanandan
Close
WHO SAID?
Who saidthat waiting is a
railway station in North Malabar?
That a dawn in uniform
will arrive there in a coffin?
Who said
that memory is a fragrant window
opening on ripe cornfields?
That our bodies grow cold
as light grows dim there?
Who said
that trees have ceased to follow
wind’s language?
That we must conceal
from lilies and rabbits
the news of the death of love?
Who said
that now noons will be
heavy like a drunkard’s head?
That evenings will have sick hearts
like a lover’s whispered songs?
Who said that we are running barefoot
over red hot iron
with a fistful of childhood rain?
That we will, at the end,
hand over our keys
to the same rain?
Who said that men once dead grow younger
and then they enter another Time?
That all the birds that vanished
at sunrise will return
when the world ends?
Who said
that we would understand everything
with no one saying anything,
but will still not share
anything with anyone?
© 2002, K. Satchidanandan
From: At Home in the World:
Publisher: 2002, Full Circle, Delhi
From: At Home in the World:
Publisher: 2002, Full Circle, Delhi
WHO SAID?
Who saidthat waiting is a
railway station in North Malabar?
That a dawn in uniform
will arrive there in a coffin?
Who said
that memory is a fragrant window
opening on ripe cornfields?
That our bodies grow cold
as light grows dim there?
Who said
that trees have ceased to follow
wind’s language?
That we must conceal
from lilies and rabbits
the news of the death of love?
Who said
that now noons will be
heavy like a drunkard’s head?
That evenings will have sick hearts
like a lover’s whispered songs?
Who said that we are running barefoot
over red hot iron
with a fistful of childhood rain?
That we will, at the end,
hand over our keys
to the same rain?
Who said that men once dead grow younger
and then they enter another Time?
That all the birds that vanished
at sunrise will return
when the world ends?
Who said
that we would understand everything
with no one saying anything,
but will still not share
anything with anyone?
© 2002, K. Satchidanandan
From: At Home in the World:
Publisher: 2002, Full Circle, Delhi
From: At Home in the World:
Publisher: 2002, Full Circle, Delhi
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