Mangalesh Dabral (India)
Words And Meanings
Whenever I write a word
it seems as though it doesn’t have the meaning I intended
I write tree on a sheet of paper
but I have no faith it will be considered a tree
or perhaps some tree will appear inside it covered in leaves
I wish to give form to a scream that gathers inside me
I take refuge in dictionaries seeking synonyms
But whatever word I find
is filled only with its own darkness
or else it is an empty façade
its interior, already destroyed
I wish to call out to someone
but his words have already begun to fall like ash
Over and over I repeat
This is not the word that held that meaning
This is not the meaning that went with that word
Most words have lost their meanings
Some have gone in the opposite direction and some to the other side
The tyrants of our time have driven them all away
They’ve ended up in the vast settlements between object and verb
There are some words which have retained their meanings
Fear is even more fearful now and terror more terrifying
Lovers can no longer be found inside of love
I look for words of anguish
and find only the trumpeting of cruel celebrations
When some powerful figure mentions a new dawn
it might well mean that darkness draws nigh
It is possible that one who is known for being human
has long since ceased to be
And when we screw up our courage and call an atrocity an atrocity
then he is not angry but rather he smiles in self congratulation
One day I mentioned humanity in front of a powerful man
and he got annoyed and responded
Everyone’s busy doing their own thing
but here you are, still harping on about humanity.
Translated from the Hindi by Daisy Rockwell
Whenever I write a word
it seems as though it doesn’t have the meaning I intended
I write tree on a sheet of paper
but I have no faith it will be considered a tree
or perhaps some tree will appear inside it covered in leaves
I wish to give form to a scream that gathers inside me
I take refuge in dictionaries seeking synonyms
But whatever word I find
is filled only with its own darkness
or else it is an empty façade
its interior, already destroyed
I wish to call out to someone
but his words have already begun to fall like ash
Over and over I repeat
This is not the word that held that meaning
This is not the meaning that went with that word
Most words have lost their meanings
Some have gone in the opposite direction and some to the other side
The tyrants of our time have driven them all away
They’ve ended up in the vast settlements between object and verb
There are some words which have retained their meanings
Fear is even more fearful now and terror more terrifying
Lovers can no longer be found inside of love
I look for words of anguish
and find only the trumpeting of cruel celebrations
When some powerful figure mentions a new dawn
it might well mean that darkness draws nigh
It is possible that one who is known for being human
has long since ceased to be
And when we screw up our courage and call an atrocity an atrocity
then he is not angry but rather he smiles in self congratulation
One day I mentioned humanity in front of a powerful man
and he got annoyed and responded
Everyone’s busy doing their own thing
but here you are, still harping on about humanity.
Translated from the Hindi by Daisy Rockwell