कवि का हाल The Poet’s Fate

कवि का हाल

वह रोशनी अगर और सफ़ेद होती तो
हम तुम अदृश्य हो जाते
जीते अपनी अपनी अदृश्य पीड़ा को
बिना जाने कभी
खुशी की  अनुपस्थिति को
चकित होते उस अदृश्यता पर
जिसमें ग़ायब हैं परछाइयाँ
जिसमें ग़ायब हैं आकार
और गिरते हुए हम करते उड़ने की कल्पना बिना आकाश के,
केवल आवाज़
जो पहुँचती बची हुई स्मृति तक
जहाँ परिचय की जरूरत नहीं,  
कवि का हाल
कविता की नियति
यह साथ
साथ साथ
एक साँस की बात
 

The Poet’s Fate

Were this light even whiter
you and I would be invisible
we each would live our invisible pain
never knowing
the absence of joy
Stunned by that void
into which shadows vanish
forms dissolve
falling, we would imagine flying
without a sky
Only sounds
reach the surviving memory
no need for introductions
The poet's fate
poetry's fate
together
just a breath
 

This was the second poem (‘The Washerman’ is the other) that the poet himself, Mohan Rana, helped us translate when he did us the great honour of coming along to our workshop.

‘The Washerman’ needed a lot of finessing but, after that, this next poem came out very cleanly and quickly, perhaps because we were beginning to grasp the measure of the poet’s voice.

The title took some discussion. At one point we went for ‘To Be a Poet’ and then went for ‘The Poet’s Fate’ when we reached that line in the poem (the same as the title in Hindi), ditching the Hamlet-feel of our first attempt.

It was a real pleasure to have Mohan with us, and we are very grateful to him – and to his translator, Lucy Rosenstein – for giving us this unique insight into his poetry and for enduring our probing questions with such grace and patience.

Original Poem by

Mohan Rana

Translated by

Lucy Rosenstein with The Poetry Translation Workshop Language

Hindi

Country

India