One may think that Vikram Seth is a Chinese poet,
But he is not,
An economics boy
Who went to China as for researches,
But wrote it not on economics,
But on poetry
In a traditional form.
Vikram Seth though he imports from Chinese
Is no Chinese poet,
But an Indian
Writing in a traditional form
Rhymed and metred poetry.
Vikram’s Chinese is neither Mandarian
Nor Cantonese nor Hakka nor Wu
Nor Min nor Xiang nor Gan,
It is English,
Indian English,
An Indian writing in English.
Whatever say we, Vikram is a simple poet
Of simpler things,
A poet of some traditional format
Dabbling in verse,
Improvising his foreign sojourn
And the diaspora status.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem