Girlhood (Ladkipan)poem By Jonathan Galassi Iin Hidi/Urdu Translation Poem by Ravi Kopra

agar tera daDi waala dost
teri madad karta hai
k tu khaali haathon
khawaab k johaD main
trout ki macHli pakaD lay,
aur tu nangay pair,
us ki baalti main machli daal,
pathreeli nadiya main chaltay
us k khail k ghar lay jaaey,
jahan vo tere liyay usay
tail main talaDkta hai;
aur tum dill ko kutar kar
gajar par daal day
aur fir jheel main tairanay nikal jaaey
jab tak k tere hont jheel se bhi
zyaada neelay nahin ho jaatay,
to kya paaogi tum is sub harkat se?
tum le na paao gi jo hai
en dhoop bharay dinoN main
aur taaray bhari raatoN main.
apni chamkeeli khoobsoorat aankhon pe,
jisay dekh log doob jaatay hain,
parda daalnay ki zaroorat nahin.
aur jab meri nazar tuj se swaal poocHti hai
muje such k bagair jawaaab denay ki zaroorat nahin.
taaza taaza chuni hui raspberries ko
car ki seat pe ne bikhar dena,
ye teri kameez ko khoon ki tarah
laal kar daiN gi jo kabhi dhul na paaey ga.

-to be translated further


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Girlhood
Poem by Jonathan Galassi

If your bearded friend
helps you catch the trout
barehanded
in the pool of the dream
and you carry it in his pail
barefoot
up the rocky stream
to the playhouse where he fries it in his pan;
if you snip the dill
for the carrots and then swim
until your lips are bluer than the lake
where will it take you?
Not anywhere as pure
and primal as these sunstruck days
sistered by starstruck nights.
Don't cloud the drowning
brightness of your eyes,
don't answer my asking look
with anything but the truth,
don't spill the fresh-picked
raspberries on the car seat
and stain your shirt with indelible blood.

Or spill them, darling.
How else will you know
the color of crushed time;
how else will you feel
what it is to change and remember,
to lose and absorb
this summer inside you,
xylem and phloem of your leafy future
already starting to spread its shade above us?
Jonathan Galassi