Pining for long, O longing heart,
If smacked art thou by a beauty,
If rocked by her assets thou art,
Should any charming face sway thee,
Earn first good deeds her to deserve,
Desires on their own seldom serve.
__________________________
Translation (sestet*) | 24.08.2025 | beauty, heart, women
*Wonder, if it can be called a Sestetto Rima-- iambic meter with a rhyme scheme of ABABCC.
Note: Here is a verse from Bhartrihari’s Shringaara Shatakam (hundred verses on love and romance). This verse is in Vasanta-tilakaa meter. It says: if ye cherish a beauty, she must be deserved first. Here is the transliteration of the verse in Sanskrit:
Tasyaah stanau yadi ghanau jaghanam cha haari,
Vaktram cha chaaru tava chittam kim aakulatvam |
Punyam kurushva yadi teshu tava asti vaañchaa,
Punyaih vinaa na hi bhavanti sam ihita-arthaah || 20 ||
Categories:
asti, beauty, heart, women,
Form: Rhyme
The golden line of sanguine heart
That noble friendship sets apart,
I wonder what’s the test,
If indirect at best,
As touchstone be in a gold mart.
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Translation |29.01.2025|gold, friendship, test
Poet’s note: Sanskrit has thousands of verses of wisdom called Subhashhitam. The poet of this verse wonders on the friendship of two hearts on the same wave length. What could be a dividing line to test their closeness? These golden hearts are then compared with gold in the market, where a touchstone tests its purity. The transliteration of the Sanskrit verse follows (sandhi duly separated):
Sauhaarda svarna rekhaanaam,
uccha avacha bhidaa jushaam |
Paroksham iti kah api asti,
pareekshaa nikasha-upalah || 201||
Categories:
asti, friendship, heart,
Form: Quintain (English)
There’s no council without wise old,
Nor old that vouch dharma nor virtue,
No virtue, truth would not uphold,
Nor truth free from fraudulent hue!
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Translation |20.10.2024|assembly, old, virtue, truth, trickery
Poet’s note: Sanskrit has thousands of verses of wisdom called Subhashhitam. This verse is taken from Mahabharata, Sabha Parva. Draupadi was molested in the royal court despite the presence of wise old people like Bheeshma, Drona, Vidur, and Kripacharya. They were all talking about dharma while allowing such a thing to happen. (What Draupadi said is valid; what Duryodhan argued is also not invalid…) The transliteration of the Sanskrit verse follows:
Na saa sabhaa yatra na santi vriddhaah,
vriddhah na te ye na vadanti dharmam |
Dharmah na vai yatra cha na asti satyam,
satyam na tat yat chhala na anu-viddhyam ||
Categories:
asti, mythology, old, truth,
Form: Quatrain
Who so has whatso any,
O deem thou more than plenty,
Fair ‘tis enough fame to fetch,
No one has all of world bounty.
Does Pineapple plant flowers fetch?
Can Forest Flame fruit-bearing be?
Betel-leaf has fruits nor flowers,
Nature to no one all its grace showers.
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Translation |09.08.2024| free verse, fate, nature
The Sanskrit verse:
kasya api kah api atishayah asti
saha tena loke khyaati prayaati
na hi sarva-vidah tu sarve |
kim ketakee phalati
kim panasah su-pushpah
kim naagavallaya api cha pushpa-phalaih upetaa ||
Categories:
asti, fate, nature,
Form: Free verse
The sunflower leaned
against the burning candle,
fat. a quiet night
of sumptuous feasting -
notable,
the crème brulee and berries
covered in whipped cream,
two flutes
filled with asti spumante.
the cheers that took two years
to occur -
after a pandemic and a death,
but let’s
for tonight
remember the romance -
two sips…two bites
mmm…delight
full.
4/22/2022
Categories:
asti, anniversary,
Form: Free verse
My loving cousin
Nongmaithem Manihar Singh ,
had not seen for decades;
how time can sting,
after his passing I went
to his home at Yairipok Bazar
where memories roam
to attend the Asti sanchay.
That country market place
miles from my house in Imphal
I have not visited for a long time.
During my childhood days
long ago in the sun
I wandered there often
where the small market spun
that was busy only at dusk
selling fresh produce from the fields
and ground.
At the time of his mother's death
more than two decades ago
still it was a traditional marketplace.
My mother her sister had passed away
more than two decades before her
leaving a silence that echoed evermore.
After they left us our bond grew thin
we have not seen each other ;
it's been far too long since than.
That day
the rural landscape had changed
so much from what I remembered,
It felt like a touch.of nostalgia
The market place now was much bigger,
more bright modernised and crowded,
a bustling sight.
I recalled then the old days and my long past,
with memories swirling like leaves in the air.
20.01.2021
Categories:
asti, change,
Form: Free verse