In The Footstone Of The Kalpavriksha Poem by Pradip Saikia

When I was lost in myself
In the ancient festival of catching frogs
Naked
In the rain

In the loadshedding drawn on the rough cloth
The rocky coloured snake uncoils slowly

Whose two burning marbles follows
The four-legged offsprings of the gods
Who is glorified by the curse of lord Varuna
And the hymns of the Vedas

A newborn Brahmin also smells the signs of a snake

To my water pool
Filled with fire
Innumerable rubber frogs
Petrified
Comes in with classic voice

And in the fondness of finding it back
My nakedness courts the body of the Varuna
In the footstone of the Kalpavriksha


# Translated from Assamese to English by: Bibekananda Chowdhury