'Maatité Bosano Jaala' (Pitcher on Earthen-Floor) by Shankha Ghosh

Translated from original Bengali by Saikat Guha

I am lying prostrate on grass in the horizon

And have kept my appealing lips on your paddy-face

Close your eyes, I too shall hear the sound closing my eyes

The breathing of netherworld rising from unknown layer

The whole day’s senselessness have found water here

Moment seems to have gained her meaning all of a sudden.

She has not memorized her own steps herself

I have not kept in mind too, but remains a trail of memory

A pitcher on earthen-floor, its cold bosom of is full of water

I have not made out well yet what is actually Love.

Note:

  This is essentially a love poem by the renowned contemporary Bengali poet Shankha Ghosh. Here, the poet searches for the meaning of love. The background is beautiful, the serene natural beauty of Bengal. But the lover-poet discovers that the meaning of love is not that easy to grasp as it is to indulge in physical love. The implied comparison between loveless heart and cold bosom of pitcher is striking.