The River of Life
Jalangi, river of dreams,
Life’s river —
Always flowing forward,
Always moving on.
You have built homes along both your banks,
Where people call out to me
Morning and evening.
You play football
Beneath the goalpost of the sky,
Schools of fish dart around you —
Yet, O river, you never score a goal.
You are weary, endlessly weary —
And I too am tired beside you.
Your neighbors bare their teeth in laughter,
And I, helplessly, laugh along with them.
O Jalangi, you live to the right,
The market lies to your left —
Where, then, shall I live?
In the small house of poetry.
O my dream-river Jalangi,
When you turn bare and exposed,
I grow restless —
I long to leap into your heart.
