Pond,
Where...( Kaadaaga Sambu)
Ravikumar
A wilderness of reeds
grows along the bank.
Waterweeds
dense and rank
float arm in arm, like half-hidden
crocodiles.
In between,
the water smiles.
Left to soak, bamboo poles
sprout green shoots.
At water’s edge a kingfisher eyes
its prey.
Sometimes big murrel fish
dash against our calves,
leap up and fall back
with a plop.
At daybreak and nightfall,
Sivan’s temple spires
admire themselves
in the village pond,
where you can
wash your cattle
rinse your shit-rags
clean your arse
where we alone
may not fetch
water.
Translated by Vasantha Surya
