The Pairing Bird Poem by Pradip Saikia

How long this pair of bird will stay
In this strange rented house
Perhaps
Somewhere
The last date is written

From where
Unseen
Unknown
They are playing here
This pair of birds
That cannot speak

Dark eye blazing
One
The owner
The other
A stranger
As long they stay
The diya will burn
Bees will fly
Flowers will breathe

In the will of the owner bird
The last date is written
How long this pair will stay
In this strange abode

The stranger feels
Pangs of hunger
It sleeps
Enjoys lovemaking
Laughs
And
Sleeps
Also
Weeps

The ownerjust looks on
And
Records in his memoirs
It is a hungerless
Never decaying
Enchanted bird


One day
They will change home
Somewhere
They will built again

# Translated from Assamese to English by: Bibekananda Chowdhury