Mangalesh Dabral (India)

From the Mountains to the Plains
 
I was born in the mountains and came to the plains
it was as if my brain got left behind in the mountains
and my body came to the plains
or as if the mountains remained in my brain only
and the plains settled in my body
 
it rains and snows in the mountains
in the sun the summits continue to reflect their wilderness
rivers break out and smoke rises from the roofs
meanwhile in the plains dust is flying
something is being razed
some hammering and beating goes on and
noise flows in place of air
 
my body is only a plain a flatland
that drags itself in cities and on the streets
keeps moving the hands and advancing the legs
like a fisherman’s net it throws and
pulls itself back from some rough and rickety sea
 
the mountains are nowhere in my body
and like always there’s an abyss
between the mountains and the plains
sometimes my body raises both its hands
and begins to rummage its brain
 
Translated from the Hindi by Sarabjeet Garcha