Face To Face Poem by Ravikumar C.P.

Face To Face



Kannada Poem by K.V. Thirumalesh (1978)
Translation by C.P. Ravikumar (1991)

1

A fat cat entered my living room,
saw me, and stopped.
He did not expect me, perhaps.
Not on a Monday morning,
when every one is busy at work.
The cat looked at me with impatience.
We stared at one another,
neither of us prepared to turn back.
It was an undeclared war of sorts.
I had no idea
the eyes of a cat are so still.
2

His tail up in the air,
his bristles straight,
his claws dug into the floor,
he looked like a bow set to go.
He occupied my visual territory entirely
as I lost my way in prehistoric lands
and fell into unknown seas.
I did not bat an eye.
He did not bat an eye.
The cat stood in front of me
like a challenge to himself,
in a state special to man and animal.
I had no idea
the eyes of a cat are so orphaned.

3

It was the animal who finally lost.
Or that is what I thought.
The cat unstretched his body and withdrew
and walked away at the pace of a cat.
When he was gone from my territory, I thought
I could have given him his self respect.
After all, what did I gain?
One should win, if at all, like Bahubali
by giving something up.
I had no idea
the eyes of a cat are so regretful.

POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
Originally posted on soc.culture.indian on 28-4-91.

Foot note: The naked statue of Gommateshwara in Sravana Belagola, Karnataka, represents Bahubali. Babubali and Bharata were brothers from a royal family. When their father died, they fought for the throne. Bahubali, the younger brother, defeated Bharata in three battles - Malla-yuddha (wrestling match) , Gadaa-yuddha
(a club fight) , and Drishti-yuddha (a match in which the contestants stare at each other and the first one to bat his eyes looses.) Although Bahubali won the fight, he renounced everything and went away into the woods to seek peace through penance. The reference to Bahubali in the poem is not accidental, considering the 'Drishti-yuddha' which takes place between the man and the cat.
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