Reincarnation Poem by Pradip Saikia

REINCARNATION 1

When the moon goes for a walk along the incline
Of the hill
I look at my reflection
In the water-circle

Discarding my old robe
I pick up the karfai bow
Off from my shoulder

I do not come near water
Till it is dark

Everyone calls me a hunter

On my hungry arrows
Poison of dream is smeared

In my quiver
I have the
Future of the journey

When the rock shaking cry of a barking deer
Coils up to the peaks

I dip myself in the watery picture

Burying the mask of the hunter
In a mound of ashes

REINCARNATION 2

There is a past
Even for a drowning man

There is a history
For a tiger
Drinking water from a brook

In his heart also the echoes of the
Death wail of a flock of pregnant deer
Is deeply rooted

What am I
Hunter
Prowler
Or
A human being

I am immersed in water
But have not got wet
I have got dipped in sleep
But have not drowned
I am screaming
But could not hear any sound

Darkness have enveloped the Uriam tree

The cackling flock of birds
Darkness is cascading

REINCARNATION 3

Can a flock of birds fade out as smoke
In the great blue

Where a flaming red china rose disappears
The coquettish forest turns yellow
Dense wood of fallen leaves

Had I been once a great tit
Cleaning its feathers

A huge tree from a seed
Electricity from bustling water
A human being from a bird

The endless odyssey
Of Kollong streaming down

REINCARNATION 4

This relentless journey of the wind
The pleasure trips on the boat
Of the sufferings

Where is the end of it
Where is the end of it

It all commences after the termination

In the bony cocoons
Petrified in sleep
The seeds of dreams will sprout again

It rains again after a bout of torrential rain

It is reincarnation
Again Bodhidroom
Again the great salvation

REINCARNATION 5

Two doors on two sides
Of water
And
Of earth

In between
A burning fire

I have come in the form of a wave
Countless seas

I am dancing as fire-wave
On the horizon

I am shining as the green
On the leaves of the upside down tree

I am performing morning prayers of the world
At the shadows of the stars

In my dreams
I am riding at the back of a flying lion

As if floating on a carriage without wheels

I am going
Wandering away

REINCARNATION 6

What is it actually
That trundles along
Smearing the dust of transformation

Is it something orbiting
Around a fluorescent crystal pillar

Or

A silent prayer
Of a thousand unlit earthen lamps
For a great sun

Climbing
One at a step
The stairs of the musical notes

Or

Slipping down suddenly
Like a waterfall

That revolves on the
Potters wheel


# Translated from Assamese to English by: Bibekananda Chowdhury