MY PLIGHT
KAVISAMRAAT
VISWANATHA SATYANARAYANA
This
side
is steeped
in the glow
of the moonlight
of autumn’s
full moon.
The
other side
is all.
forocious
deep
massive
darkness.
Half
of me
is here.
And
the other half
there.
In
the moonlight
I
see myself
as a vine
massive
new
and brilliant.
The
other half
I
can’t see
myself.
My
plight
is like that of the moon
is mid-eclipse
by fiery Raahu
half-devoured.
–Translated
from Telugu by B. V. L. NARAYANAROW