- Solitude
Thanimai
From a plain street,
I bring with me
a piece of solitude.
The darkness
that suffuses my room
is now lit
by the embers of a lamp.
A suspicious creature
lurks in the courtyard
beyond the living room
within the folds
of my tightly knotted petticoat,
my lover whispers.
A sorrow
hidden by a façade of denial.
From the sounds of birds
falling from trees
an animal is roused.
I am the eternal lover
of this awakened beast.
2. Plight
Nilai
Even after you have potted them
and set them down in the garden,
these flowering plants
continue to stand there,
their heads bowed, wilting.
They refuse to leave their garden.
Nor do they reveal to us
the roots that anchor them.
3. Married Life
Dampathiyam
In caressing me,
the breeze perceives
my softness.
The life that decimates me
fathoms my strength.
The child I hold
close to my heart
senses my affection.
The rain that falls
from time to time
divines the poem
within me.
Dew-covered grass
feels my love.
My poems
and the earthquakes
exploding within,
know me.
You, on the other hand,
have never understood
all the things that have transpired
within me.
4. Paths
Padhaigal
A bat crashes
into the spinning fan,
into the walls of the room,
into the almirah.
Having flown a thousand miles,
crossed ocean-blue
and mountains in a huddle,
birds have never,
so far,
lost their way.
***
Translated from Tamil by K Srilata and Shobhana Kumar.
***
Rajathi Salma
Rakkiaiah (born Rajathi Samsudeen in 1968 is a Tamil writer and Rajya Sabha member of the DMK involved in women’s and transgender rights activism, known by her pen name Salma and the nickname Rajathi. Her works have received international acclaim, and she is renowned as a sensation in contemporary Tamil Literature.
***
Shobhana Kumar is a poet, translator and chronicler of industrial, corporate and leadership histories. Her book of haibun, A Sky Full of Bucket Lists, won the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize for 2021-2022, and The Touchstone Distinguished Books Award (HM), 2021, instituted by The Haiku Foundation, United States.
K Srilata (Srilata Krishnan) is a poet, fiction writer, translator and academic. A Fulbright fellow and a recipient of the Charles Wallace Writing Fellowship, her books include seven collections of poetry. She is currently a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Shiv Nadar University, Chennai
