Kunwarnarayan's Poem

Kunwar Narayan is the senior most contemporary Hindi poet.He has been awarded with India's most prestigious literary award Gyanpeeth this year. Here is a poem written by him along with its translation into English.The translation is done by young English poet Dr. Shaleen Kumar Singh.


क्या फिर वही होगा
जिसका हमें डर है ?
क्या वह नहीं होगा
जिसकी हमें आशा थी?
क्या हम उसी तरह बिकते रहेंगे
बाजारों में
अपनी मूर्खताओं के गुलाम?
क्या वे खरीद ले जायेंगे
हमारे बच्चों को दूर देशों में
अपना भविष्य बनवाने के लिए ?
क्या वे फिर हमसे उसी तरह
लूट ले जायेंगे... हमारा सोना
हमें दिखाकर कांच के चमकते टुकडे?
और हम क्या इसी तरह
पीढी-दर-पीढी
उन्हें गर्व से दिखाते रहेंगे
अपनी प्राचीनताओं के खण्डहर
अपने मंदिर मस्जिद गुरुद्वारे?
-कुंवरनारायण
Some other poems by Kunwarnarayan.

English Translation :

Shall it happen again
What we fear?
Shall it not happen
What we expected?
Shall we be sold again like always
In the Markets
A slave of our own follies?
Will they buy and carry our children
To foreign lands
To make their own future
Will they again grab us like always,
Rob us... Our gold
Luring us by the glittering pieces of glass
And do we like this
Generation after generation
Proudly show them
The ruins of our ancestry
Our temples, Mosques, Gudwaras?
( Original poem in Hindi by Kunwarnarayan,English translation by Dr. Shaleen Kumar Singh )