Dont Know Me

He doesn’t know me Neither do I, him There is a lake between us It is full of fish Those fish are not his. Neither are they mine. The connection between us Is that those fish do not Belong to us The fallen sky is still in the pond I can see the fish diving through The cloudy hillsides There is no doubt that it is the fish That stir the clouds however slightly be it Are there fish that are undaunted by birds? If you wish, peer into the sky in the pond I kept wondering whether he was witnessing all this Also, whether he comprehends my reflections I couldn’t envisage what he saw in the pond Neither did I have the time for it. O, let him think whatsoever He has a cigarette in his hand That I too have a cigarette Is another bond which we share I feel that the fumes from my cigarette And the clouds are friends Isn’t that the reason I get vexed About the clouds in the lake, floating, dead His is not like that One can see it in his face He has no cares He must be smoking to kill boredom He is darker than I am That too is a bond But he doesn’t know That I am actually fair And that I am only pretending to be dark Perhaps he was fair too once Would he have got dark when his mother left him, forgotten? I don’t think so; No, he is dark The pond belonging to the clouds The sky fell into My smoke fumes that roam in the company Of clouds Me, who is not dark.. Kuzhur Wilson Translation : Anitha Varma