చూపు - వసీరా

A Look
- Vaseera
I heard that someone painted
Indira Gandhi on a grain of rice.
On the very same grain, I too can depict
The famine deaths of Mahaboob Nagar and Kalahandi.
The metal-winged aircraft, and the food packets they dropped
And the magic of the food morsels turning into bullets -
All these I can show - On the very same grain.
Self-governance of the steely gods .. on just a salt crystal ..
On a mere speck of coal, the hot blood of innocent infants, still wet ..
These too I can show.
In a can of milk powder, an infant's corpse ..
Decorated marriage pandals in kerosene drops ..
In a particle of pesticide, the great city in death throes..
These I can show.
I heard that someone painted Indira Gandhi on a grain of rice.
Keep the very same grain near your ear ..
I'll make it ring with the ankle-bell sounds of Mother Godavari ..
I'll make it resonate the heartbeat of the Godavari valley.
The red blood stains on the tender face of a rice morsel,
The gun powder in the throat of a grain of wheat,
And in the chlorophyll of beedi leaves,
The arrow notched in a taut bow - I can show.

TTV_March07.wma

The Telugu poem in my voice
నే చదివిన తెలుగు పద్యం
A request: Please show this translation to your friends who do not know Telugu. What did they think? Does the translation read like a poem? Were they able to understand it? Did they think some further explanations were necessary to appreciate the poem better? Let me know.