THE SEA
LAXMI NARAYAN MAHAPATRA
often I have run to the sea as
a toddler;
in every point of my
wistful being
have i
annexed the sea with my entity
and lifted the sea with my
fragile hands.
handfuls of its chilling warmth
i have smeared all over
my sensitive body
and searched for my body’s
sensitivity
frequently within that sea, like
one lost
among the lanes of an unknown
city.
search i
for the sea’s foamy waveless form
joining the moonlight with
the sea’s blue.
and suddenly the sea flies
with the moonlight
lifting its white scarf unto
the distant horizon.
I run behind it naked
while desire’s cloak is flown
over the sand, shore.
the sea suddenly disappears
in the circle of clouds
like an arrow of indomitable
lust.
where is the color of the
sea? where its light?
the sky and the sea become
one.
the sky is colorless and
lightless
only the foamy sea dances
everywhere wildly
the sea, the sea, only the
sea!
the blue of my body is spread over the sea’s
canopy,
my being enveloped among
the leaping sea-waves.
all the splashes of light
under my mind’s sky
get lost within the womb of the sea.
where am i?
where is my entity? where is
my wisdom?
how my limbs vanish with a touch of the wind!
and i
become one with the sea, with the sky
like the tune of a faraway boatman’s song
along the horizon. all the differences merge into one
and all around hero the
sea, only the sea!
–Translated from the Oriya
by Brajakishore Das