TRANSLATIONS: ARUNAVA SINHA

You can talk to my parents
I don’t mind if you do
We’ll talk later, you and I

So restrained in every way
But reckless in private
When was it I came to know?

My mother quite likes you
You’re a brother to my father
But actually, you’re my friend

Why didn’t you bring auntie, darling?
You mustn’t tell her ever
How well I can kiss

To open the front door
We’ll go downstairs together
Our moment of madness

A secret storm in our breaths
The scorpion stings without warning
A constant flow of blood and pain

It’ll be staunched soon, it will
Have you seen how easily my face
Fits on the width of your chest

How are auntie and Mitali?
Do they ever come near you
In search of marks and bruises?

I’ll go to your office tomorrow
Exactly at four twenty-five
We’ll lose our way after that

Climbing to the top of Shahid Minar
I’ll scream out to the skies
Indra-uncle is my lover