~ 1 ~
When I tell you, ‘I love you’
It doesn’t mean that I don’t
Love anything other than you.
When I tell you, ‘I love you,’
Do I not also see the clouds?
Or the flower behind the leaves,
The birds on the flowers? Pretending
To look at you I look sideways at the world
The morning dew is still on your clothes
Around your reddened ankle the green grass
Plays at being twilight in its head
It strikes me that I love you because
The green grass in forests grows beneath your feet
~ 2 ~
The lord knows how many times I have
Drawn back my hand when about to touch you
My lord knows the number of times
I haven’t told you about love
Even when I was ready to.
I had welded my ears like magnets to the door
So that I could wake up at the sound of your
Soft knocking. You would arrive to tell me
‘Wake up now.
It’s me. Me.’
And what was this I heard
I would hurl myself at you with such joy
My lord knows how many times I have
Imagined just this scene.
My hair has turned grey for you
I have run up a fever for you
My lord knows my death will be for you
And then, much later, you too will know
I was born for you. Just for you
TRANSLATIONS: ARUNAVA SINHA 
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