Bangla translation by Dr Tathagata Dasgupta
This poem will be published in Kabita Down Under by Patralekha in 2007.
a feather will fall to the moon as fast as a hammer
vires acquirit eundo - Virgil
what anchors the mind inside the body?
the taste & smell & touch, clean lines & soft
curved mounds of the butt
high cheekbones & the hollows
moving down
along jaw line
even blind touch there, such pent up rush
into lips & kiss
lips kiss
the body
has limbs, can gesture
with a small shift of an eyelid, the unmade
mark of the mouth & tilt of the head
where this body-loving mind lives
to run & stretch & love
body to
body touch
is it only delayed flight?
so much fuss in the name of …
& the whole idea of there being anything to it
who’s free? who’s ready? no-one,
yeah?
& I know you don’t believe
for the cheap shot
& rhetoric
freedom’s just another word
& hanging in there is alright
for a handful of crumbs?
in the low set of the chin
troubling
down
fine lines, where the mid-section
grips & a window of opportunity
opens wide every second
for
somebody else
every thud, beat, thud of the day job
the small desires, these dreams
& ‘acting
hope’ on the week-end
have I told you yet, how beautiful
the
autumn sky is?
sitting on a log seat on top
of the hill at Farnborough
this blue air on my head & shoulders
a saturating power, just looking out
as a new-world explorer
at the moment of first encounter
monumental above & you
walking the hill to join me
where are those small shells?
you call them cat’s eyes
but I call them stars
& I had so many
& stones that had smooth surfaces
all the different colours made a map
when I tipped them out
over the silk sheet
I purchased for myself
when I lived in Brisbane
& didn’t know you yet
and you remember?
how hard it was for me
the cost
too high, the sacrifice
like a Cohen song & troubles
but I held on & you, although
I never knew it then, but I know
now & I’m glad
love is something
people
I love do
do you believe that?
once or twice I dithered, thought of you
(life is beautiful) & pinch myself & stumble
trying to distinguish all those points on a compass
travelogues, numbers for places & people to call
that’s how it works, effort & will
the deep & the shallow (something for us)
& belief
that it’s coming
have you ever?
sure & thought about it
but I’m not into endings & I’m moving forward
because nothing stands still, not even a mountain
all the changing scenery
falls as far as the eye can plan
& I want to be around all that
old & grey & newfound