About the translator: Anil K Prasad is a poet and translator. His poems have been published in /on reputed journals, websites, net-zines and anthologized in India, Yemen and abroad and also translated into Arabic. His anthology of poems Heart Cannot Tell A Lie is awaiting publication. He has been awarded the Honorary Life Membership from Metverse Muse: A Journal of Poetry, Andhra Pradesh, India and Honorary Membership from International Writers and Artists Association, USA. He is currently heading the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Ibb University, the Republic of Yemen.
Portrait
Mirror is looking for a face.
If someone is liked by mind's eyes
He will be reflected in the heart's mirror
Creating a glimmer for an instant in the heart
And fades away.Alas! The mirror is left sad
Lonely and blankThen one day –
An image appears in the mirror
And is there forever…A sari, rainbow-hued,
Printed with multicoloured
Flowers and leavesBlushing, settles down into
A red wedding-dress
Of blessings,And the mirror gets transformed
Into a portraitJyotsana K Prasad
Suffocation
("Ghutan")
Fear's relentless death-dance.
Fog of foreboding
Has enveloped the entire atmosphereEverywhere - crowd,
Hustle and bustleYet,
Why is the atmosphere so hushed up?
Even there is sadness on the playful lips!As if, tied in the bags of plastics
People like peas and tomatoes,
Appear fresh from without
But are breathless from within
For the lack of
An open skyJyotsana K Prasad
Definitions
("Paribhshayen")
1. Mind
("Man")Our mind
Gleamed with the glow of prowess
Unleashed like youth
Enraptured like a calf
Maddening like the spring breeze…2. Hope
("Asha")Our hope is a twinkling star
Tearing the sheet of fog
Flashing in pitch darkness
The flame of a lamp.
For faltering steps
The stick of support
Born of the embryo
Of despair: a ray of hope.3. Contentment
("Santosh")Contentment keeps us unfaltering
Like meditating *Bholeshanker
Patient-satiated-oars
For the dangling boat
But also a stumbling-block
In the way of one's progress
Diminishes natural competition
Assassinates ambition.* One of the names of Lord Shiva
4. Wishes
("Ichhayen")Our wishes are our sorrows
Destroy our peace
Twenty four hours
They make us move
Like a windmill.
But our wishes are the mothers
Of our creations
Success and progress
Cannot be achieved without
Wishes and will power.Jyotsana K Prasad