No, I'm not the Earth. Then how can I bear with the intolerable pains,
That've been suppressed, since long, beneath my bruised and bleeding bosoms?
Alas! It’s something more like adding combustible fuels to the fiery fire,
Where the so called kith and kin deal with more coldly and callously than aliens!
No, I'm not at all a tree laden with sweet and succulent fruits,
Then, how can I bear being pelted, for I’m only an ordinary person?
And how can I take on the worrisome burdens of the world,
For, my impoverished and infirm shoulders easily give in and groan?
No, I'm not so much adorable as a soft and coveted night Jasmine,
For, I am not blessed with its spell binding elegance and fragrance?
I’m just a sombre and tedious Palash, sadly devoid of Rose's lustre,
Say, how can I spray around any enchanting and enlivening incense?
No, I’m neither the spacious sky nor gifted with its vastness and grandeur,
Then, how can I stretch myself so much that I can surround the entire Earth?
Yes, I’m endowed with a little warm, caring and affable Pallu,
So that I can use it to bind with love and affinity to eject mirth.
N.B. – The above poem is the English version of an Odia poem “SAMAANYA MANISATE MU” written by Mrs. Ranju Apat, Kamand, Keonjhar, Odisha, India
Copyright: Dr. Shankar D Mishra 27.02.2023
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