का सागरा (Why, O Mighty Ocean…)

By Devavrat Shirolkar

का सागरा तुला ना कळे

भय इथले लाटांचे...

(Why o mighty ocean you don’t understand,

our fear of waves…)

येता झुंबड, जाता मागे,

वाऱ्यावर हे आरुढणारे,

अर्ध्या - मुर्ध्या मनातील ते

जणू अंतर ते देहांचे...

कोणासाठी कोण धावतो

देव परी त्यालाच पावतो,

किनाऱ्यावरील रेतीकणांची

तुरळक तुरळक दाटी होता

कसे सांगू मी, कसे मांडू

वेड लागता शब्दांचे,

का सागरा तुला ना कळे

भय इथले लाटांचे...1

(As the faceless crowds pass by,

Their emotions are passed on by the winds,

Distance between two half dead minds disappears

and takes one human form…

Who is running for whom,

But God is supposed to meet somebody,

As the innumerable sand grains on your shore

gather sporadically,

I get madly passionate by my own words,

Why o mighty ocean you don’t understand,

our fear of waves… 1)

देव उंबरठ्याशी आला,

देवघरा जाऊ लागला,

अडवून त्यासी -

- करीन त्याचे पूजा पान,

पदरी पाडितो पुण्याचे दान,

पण जाहले काय त्या पर्वतांचे,

उभे सारे माती झाले,

मग कोण तुला आलिंगतो

रक्ताचेही भान राखितो,

व्यवहार नश्वरांचे आज संपले

कोंब भावांचे मनी खुंटले,

दाटिले भयकारी ध्वनी कानी

हे राती श्वानांचे...

का सागरा तुला ना कळे

भय इथले लाटांचे...2

(God came to my door,

And he started going towards his temple in my home,

I stopped him to worship according to the rituals,

As I am a sinner, I thought to myself,

there are mountains of great worshippers

What happened to them?

They are now just dust lying around…

Then why must one worship?

To form the bonds beyond blood?

We mortals are helpless…

Our emotions have become dry,

And now we are hearing these terrifying

sounds of dogs howling away…

Why o mighty ocean you don’t understand,

our fear of waves… 2)

आभाळातल्या देवाचा कधी

हात कुणा जाणवतो,

रक्ताळलेल्या वासाचा तो

गंध कुणा बोलावतो...

का हे आज, कसे घडले?

निष्पापांचे तुकडे झाले...

रक्तरक्तांमधली नाती

अश्रूंशी बांधील झाली...

उसळलेल्या ज्वालामुखीपरी

क्रोधांची फुलबाग जाहली...

दुःखावेग सारून बाजू

बनले गीत हे नसानसांचे,

का सागरा तुला ना कळे

भय इथले लाटांचे... 3

(Who has ever felt the hand of God?

Because something terrible has happened today…

Smell of our blood is everywhere,

But who really has come to our help?

Why this has happened today,

Why bodies of innocents are in pieces?

Why spilled blood

Has become slave to our tears?

I must warn you,

Just like an erupted volcano,

You will see the garden –

Full of flowers of our anguish…

I hope we overcome this fear and reality

And let this poem become the ode

to the innocent dead…

Even then,

Why o mighty ocean you don’t understand,

our fear of waves… 3)

By Devavrat Shirolkar