Two poems of Pias Majid

Your Words

Were you trying to say something?
A veil of mist has settled over your words.

Before this, it was sunlight,
and before that, clouds,

Before that, shadows,
and even before—storms and rain.

As your words reached me,
they were swallowed
By the endless cycle of seasons.

Or were you here to tell me
About the endless cycle of seasons?

[Translated by Debraj Bhattacharjee]

A Gentle Earth

Some mist-laden winter mornings feel like
Kim Ki-duk’s summer has crept in.
Leaves shed their garments in the warmth,
Even in the sharp bite of frost-laden mornings.
And then, Kim Ki-duk’s autumn arrives—
Oh, autumn.
The trees, stripped of their jewels,
Scatter them lightly in the breeze,
Adding layers to the earth’s soft sediment.
In this hauntingly beautiful winter morning,
Within the endless slumber of frost,
Kim Ki-duk’s spring emerges—
Spring,
And spring once more.
It gazes out, time and again,
Through its window upon this desolate earth,
Where colors bloom,
A delicate trade of frost and hue.

[Translated by Debraj Bhattacharjee]

About the translator

Debraj Bhattacharjee is currently a Ph.D. research scholar at the Department of Indian Comparative Literature at Assam University, Silchar.
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