If Aunty next door had not been a poet,
Uncle would have been taken away a long time ago.
About the bandaged wrist, if she hadn’t said
That while she counted the stars last night,
Her hand had struck an aeroplane,
Uncle would have been taken away a long time ago.
I used to watch her everyday:
She had a penchant for gardening.
When the tap didn’t work
She’d plumb the well of her eyes
To water the plants.
She’d say
The season of clouds is quite mercurial.
And so daily in the shower,
She did some water harvesting herself.
If at nights, she didn’t wipe streams of kohl,
Uncle would have been taken away a long time ago.
If Aunty next door had not been a poet,
Uncle would have been taken away a long time ago.
One day, when suddenly her lips started bleeding,
She, at once, pointed to her empty lipstick and said,
“I’d painted my lips with sunset hues.
That colour of the sky has not yet dried,
And so it keeps on flowing away.”
That day, if her lips didn’t have that shivering smile,
Uncle would have been taken away a long time ago.
If Aunty next door had not been a poet,
Uncle would have been taken away a long time ago.
Translated from my Hindi poem, पड़ोस की आंटी
paDos kī Aunty
paDos ki Aunty gar shāyar na hotīn
to Uncle ko bahut pehle hī vardīvāle le jāte.
kalāī ke bandage ko dikhāge gar ye na kehtīn
ki rāt ko tāre ginte ginte
hāth aeroplane se Takrā gayā
to Uncle ko bahut pehle hī vardīvāle le jāte.
roz dekhtā thā main,
bāGbānī kā shauk thā unko.
nal na chaltā thā
to ānkhon ke kuyen se
poudhon ko sīnch letī thī.
kehti thīn
bādalon kā mousam badā manchalā hei
isīliye roz shower tale
thoDā Water Harvesting khud hī kar letī thī.
rāt ko gar gālon se kājal kī dhār na dhotīn
to Uncle ko bahut pehle hī vardīvāle le jāte.
paDos ki Aunty gar shāyar na hotīn
to Uncle ko bahut pehle hī vardīvāle le jāte.
ek roz shahasā hoTon se jab khūn niklā
FaTaFaT khālī lipstick ko dikhā ke bolīn,
wo sunset kī lālī se hoTon ko rangā hei āj.
āsmān kā rang abhī sūkhā nahīn hei na,
isīliye bahe jā rahā hei.
us roz unke hoTon pe Darī Darī sī wo muskān na hotī
to Uncle ko bahut pehle hī vardīvāle le jāte.
paDos ki Aunty gar shāyar na hotīn
to Uncle ko bahut pehle hī vardīvāle le jāte.
Minakhi Misra 