WOMAN

Hiran Bansode

 

She, the river,

Said to him, the sea:      

        All my life

I've been dissolving myself

and flowing towards you

for your sake

in the end it was I

who turned into the sea

a woman's gift

is always like the sky

        but you went on

        worshipping yourself

        you never thought

        of becoming a river

        and merging

        with me.

Hiran Bansode, Woman, Translated from Marathi to English by Vinay Dharwadker, Indian Love Poems, Edited by Meena Alexander, Everyman's Library, 2005, p.138.