Tribute
Saroj Dutta

(On 13 March 2015, the birth centenary of revolutionary poet and martyred CPI(ML) leader Saroj Dutt concluded. In tribute, we carry a translation of one of his best known poems.)

Anguish of a Revolutionary Poet

My poems will never narrate my story,

My lament will not echo in any a casual line,

My poetry does not trade woes of the feeble,

Nor is it lewd fetish of the impotent mind.

Isn’t a narcissist’s decree of universal love,

Or ‘timid offerings’ of the frail at power’s shrine.

Towards a people’s sky, those that pull

The fire-chariot of humankind are comrades of mine.

I can’t be traced in my poem; there my limits

Blend into infinity of the myriad -

With flood-waters from without I have unbounded

The stagnant swamp sluggished by poison-mud.

My pain will not linger like a spirit in the graveyard,

I am a reckless droplet, ocean’s fervour in my heart.

-- Translation: Kasturi

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