Spring in Kashmir
by Rahman Rahi
And there’s a love-torn couple
In the lap of a shikara on Dal
And there’s a vermilion cloud
In a sapphire sky flirting a peak
And there’s a deodar
With kohl-rimmed eyes
And there’s a tulip
With parched lips
And there’s a wine goblet
Bubbling with pearls
And there’s a black wasp
Digging the heart of lotus
And there’s a whirligig
Dancing
And there’s a surge
Rising, naturally.
Oh, spirit,
Amidst all this
If you did not hold my hand
And beat in tune
With my pulse,
Would you know
How my unruly heart sings
And an orchestra plays?
* * *
Abdur Rehman Rahi, b.1925, recipient of several top literary awards in India, is the greatest living poet of the Kashmiri language. He has published five collections of poems and seven books of literary criticism in Kashmiri. Rahi lives in Srinagar.
Translated from the original Kashmiri by Rafiq Kathwari for 3QD.