Poetry in Translation

Day 28: India’s Siege on the Vale of Kashmir

by Ayaz Rasool Nazki

Trapped
in a tomb
you yearn
for a voice:

a family kin
a friend
a stranger

even an enemy would do
a nightingale sings (of joy?)
a crow caws caws caws

Your santoor
in the corner
its strings
concertina

Dumb
for notes
you sing

only of blood
to sculpt
wounds

* * *

Ayaz Rasool Nazki, Kashmiri poet, painter, novelist lives in Srinagar. His recent poetry collection is ‘Songs of Light’ (Writers Workshop 2018). Translated from the original Kashmiri by Rafiq Kathwari / @brownpundit #StandWithKashmir