God, Fish And Serpent Poem by Prayag Saikia

Once god was here in our land Garbed as fish
God grew as a sprouting seedling
From a little fish
To mammoth whale

In the Great Flood
Four priceless tomes of wisdom -the Vedas
Were somehow saved by the deft diver, God

But to what avail
What regard have we for fish
Sans its flavour we can hardly swallow our meals
After the rituals of our deceased kins
The very next day we break our fast
Feasting on fish

We've a god in Natraj
The master dancer with a serpent necklace
The oscillation of infinite atoms
Seem to pervade his swings and gestures

But to what avail
We can adore dances galore
In this part of the earth
The Bihu, the Sattriya, the Bagrumba, the Jhumoir, the Oinitom and what not

But you wouldn't find a single soul
With a heart for the serpent
The serpent still remains
The Satan of the Testament
That had enticed Eve to taste
The fruit from the knowledge-tree
Could here be an appendix thus:
The superior human
In reality
The least bothered for any
In satiety

(Translated from Original Assamese by Krishna Dulal Barua)