Death dance Poem by Pradip Saikia

A half burnt girl has risen
Uprooting your sleep

Boiling oil over the body
Dust of the stars
Blisters
Lashes of whip

On the other side of your blue dreams
Under a pit
She will wail clutching her abdomen
The blood oozing from the ricocheting wail
Will rinse stony earth

In the waist deep darkness of your eyes
The night prowler Moon
Will caress the scenery
Whitewashing a cotton field

The evil soul will crawl up setting off rocks
Wildfire
Huge reptile
Thirsty
The waves of the wail
Its echo will wriggle and writhe
In the puddle of boiling water

The unclothed bewitched damsel
Tanned with the hues of the fire
Will bolt around whole night
In the inclined hill of your sleep

# Translated from Assamese to English by: Bibekananda Chowdhury