The sea
Dr. Rati Saxena
1
The sea is very different
From the sky
Different too are
The clouds from each other
But when, as she stands on the shore,
He holds her in his wavy arms
makes wet the hair scattered on her face
fondles her thighs,
puts his head on her feet
And turns back,
Then, where is the difference
Between him
And an unsatisfied lover ?
2
every evening
taking the samidha of clouds
in the homakund of the sun
putting the ahuti of waves
the sea creates an abhichar,
every evening
black comes from the abhichar
gives the news of a conspiracy,
and from this conspiracy
this world has grown
3
as the evening withers away
a star sprouts
direct on the sea
with his finger on his lips
he bids me, you and them be quiet
be careful,
you are not the only one alone,
we all are alone
in our own sea
4
I saw
him and the sea
that evening
he was lolling in the sea
and the sea was overflowing in him
he saw
me and the sea
together
the sun was sinking in the sea
and I was sinking with him
we saw each other
and started sinking in each other
5
in the black quietness of the night
the earth grows
a ray of light
what is unusual in it
the sky always hangs
lamps of light
every night
look at the sea
why does he remain behind
he is bringing the line of light
which burns the oven
across the sea
6
somebody says
it is an open sky
as open
as an open fist
somebody says
it is a deep sea
as deep
as the heart of man
when I saw
it was an empty canvas
where there was not
a single line of scratch
7
It is the sea of smell
of bodies of floatinglight
the smell makes the nostrils flutter
like fish
swimming in water .
that smell
enters into every pore
like pieces of shells.
and the body changes
into a sea of smell
8
keeping close to his chest
innumerable colours
like floating lights
and laughing rocks
how lonely is the sea
who knows?
Even the sea does not know but when his reverberations the waves putting their heads on the shore and the bursting bubbles whisper into the ears how lonely is the sea who knows? 9
the sea is getting wet
in the rain
laughing
like a desert child
the sea is getting wet
with his own tears
smiling
like a young woman
sitting on an island
the sea is getting wet
with the shower of love
sobbing in pain
getting separated
from his loved one
the sea is getting wet
in the first rain
after summer
10
the smell of the sea
is different from
the soil wet in the rain
it has no relation
to the smell of a flower
it does not know
the sharp taste of passion
the smell of the sea
does not enter into the nostrils
but enters into every pore
and touches gently
and hypnotises
the smell of the sea
tells the oral story
of the sweat of fishermen
the play of sea animals
and the legends of ships
Corrected by Aggiw Falk-Hirschma
Dr. Rati Saxena - the Illustrious Editor of Krtya.in, is an eminent Hindi poet, translator and Sanskrit scholar. She has authored three collections of poems in Hindi (Maya mahathagini, ajanmi kavita ki kokh se, sapane dekhata samudra) and one each in English and Malayalam (in translation). Among the several awards she has received, the most coveted is the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award for Translation in 2000. She is also a recipient of the prestigious Indira Gandhi National Culture and Arts Fellowship, which helped her complete this path-breaking work “A seed of mind-a fresh approach to Atharvavedic study".
e-mail: ratisaxena@gmail.com
Web: http://www.kritya.in
