Artwork by Jamil Afridi. Courtesy: ArtChowk Gallery.
Translated from Odia by Bibhudatta Mohanty
           IYour name,
The symbol of my love,
Is tattooed in blue,
All over my body.
I have painted
The whole sky
With coloured dust
As you are coming.
The sky is cloudy
And the stars are hiding;
Come slowly, with the radiance
Of your own beauty.
I have strewn
My swan soft bed
With blue pearls of dreams
While waiting for you.
The garden of my mind
Is full of the frolics
Of the south wind
Playing ‘Cross and Not’,
While the north wind
Laden with rains beckons me.
My whole house echoes
With the cuckoo’s songs.
My days are spent in waiting
As I smear
The colours of Phalgun
All over my body;
The whole town will dance
To the tune of spring
With the cuckoos leading the band,
Once you are here.
~ Umakanta Mohapatra
Umakanta Mohapatra is regarded as one of the leading contemporary writers in Odia (also known as Oriya, a language with a rich literary history). He has published eight volumes of poetry.
Bibhudatta Mohanty has published two volumes of his own poems, in addition to translating three collections of work by regional poets writing in Odia.
