Deep, Deep & Deep Poem by Prayag Saikia

Abode of river
Home of river
Where is it

Repository of desire
Where is it

Deep
Deep
And
Deep*

Depth and more depth
Where the pleasure of being the diver
The spiritual son of the door opener of depth
Is there

Give
Have mercy
And also quash

What have the gods taken
The demons
Or
Mankind

Everyone broke the riddle of depth
Has it been observed with firmness
The river took an arduous route
Complex with quest

If one tries to explain
If one is asked to explain
In every parturition
For someone to someone
The truth of light
Remains in the aspiration

The river originates from you
Your abode is there

Who tries out the virtually impossible task
Of writing a poem on the river
When the lake of tears dries up
He starts at the depth

The diving light gets into the
Depth of expectation
The one sitting in front of the poet
In a bottomless pit
Keeps on delivering sermons of life

Give
Be benevolent
And be drastic, ruthless




* Brahma pronounced 'Da' three times. The Devas interpreted it as Datta- to give, Demons as Dayabhyam- to be kind, the Manavas as Damayatta- to be in control, to suppress. Deep is pronounced as 'da' in Assamese. Brahma is the creator according to Hindu Mythology.

(Translated from Original Assamese by Bibekananda Choudhury)