A Banyan Tree
from Mukhamukhi (1978)
(A Banyan Tree doesn't come under Hyderabad Poems as such; I translated it for some other reason and thought I'd post it here anyway)
1
Look at this banyan tree: No children have
played
under it. Its leaves haven’t chimed in
the passing breeze.
No one has
hung themselves on its branches.
When I say
these, are you surprised?
Election
posters would be stuck on the trunk
of this
boring tree. Women labourers on their
way to work through this path
would go
behind for cover and urinate. Once, some
young boys
tried to
carve some random names on it.
2
Observe this banyan tree: if I say that its bark is
like the
wrinkled skin of an old man, it would be
saying
nothing – because, to say the truth, it has
petrified. And if I say that its roots are hanging like
arms
without fingers, it wouldn’t be a colourful
description
of this banyan tree. Because, it brings
to mind
outstretched
arms of beggars on the streets of this town,
irrespective
of Saturdays and Sundays.
3
When we make comparisons like these, since in some contexts
the tree alludes
to the human and the human to the tree,
let’s not
compare.
*****
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