To The Hyphenated Poets By Amit Majmudar In Hindi/Urdu Translation Poem by Ravi Kopra

JuDay Huay KavioN K Liyay

MaaN k doodh se gooDa
half-and-half hota hai
tumharay do zehn hain
dugna kar do apni kaara-gari ko

hamari taakaiN, shehad k chatay, hamaara apna-pan
sub ghul mil kar shahi murabba bun gaya hai
Benares main hon ya Boston main
Philly main ya Delhi main

khuda karay hum le lain
apnay janam-hak ka amrit
hum akelay hain, karna paDay ga khoob kaam
dono madhu-makhi ki raani ka aur nauk-raani ka

-to be continued

***

To the Hyphenated Poets
BY AMIT MAJMUDAR

Richer than mother's milk
is half-and-half.
Friends of two minds,
redouble your craft.

Our shelves our hives, our selves
a royal jelly,
may we at Benares and Boston,
Philly and Delhi

collect our birthright nectar.
No swarm our own,
we must be industrious, both
queen and drone.

Being two beings requires
a rage for rigor,
rewritable memory,
hybrid vigor.

English herself is a crossbred
mother mutt,
primly promiscuous
and hot to rut.

Oneness? Pure chimera.
Splendor is spliced.
Make your halves into something
twice your size,

your tongue a hyphen joining
nation to nation.
Recombine, become a thing
of your own creation,

a many-minded mongrel,
the line's renewal,
self-made and twofold,
soul and dual.