Muslim to choose? Hindu to choose?
Both, Arms of God. Which one to choose?
Again my fortune’s coin is flipped.
Again no clue which side to choose.
Beloved’s scent or Mother’s bread.
I don’t know which fragrance to choose.
What beauty trickles off her that
I’ve cups or cupping hands to choose?
But who will choose me face-to-face?
Why meet her face-to-face to choose?
My venom-thirst, unquenched by verse,
Has snake or scorpion to choose.
Translated from my Hindi poem, चुनूँ
chunūn
musalmān chunūn ya hindū chunūn
KHudā ka hī hei jo bāzū chunūn
phir ucHlā hei āj kismat kā sikkā
phir na patā kaunsā pehlū chunūn
sanam kā itr yā mān ke parānthe
chunūn bhi to kaunsi khushbū chunūn
kaunsā husn tapak rahā hei uskā
ki paimānā cHoD ke chullū chunūn
mujhe kaun hi ru-ba-ru chunegī
main kya kisī ko ru-ba-ru chunūn
zahar kī talab na bujhī sher se
sānp chunūn ya bicHū chunūn
Minakhi Misra 