Have You Seen the Sea?

This is my amateur attempt at translating "Xagor Dekhisa" - a well known Assamese poem by Dev Kant Barooah.

Have you seen the sea? Haven't you ever? I have not either

But I have heard

Of the blue expanse, the limitless waves

Stretching to the far horizon.

Have you not witnessed, the sea-blue agony

Of my heart?

Where a million waves of desire ebb and flow

On the shore of your memories.

Have you not heard? Have you not heard the furious song

Of my stormy sea?

Have you not understood? Not even felt, the caressing hint of spring

Among the flowers?

The rainbow - you must have witnessed, the enchanting play of light

On the monsoon clouds

But have you seen the play of colours in my heart,

Lit by the light of love?

Have you heard the heartbreaking cry of the cuckoo

Upon awakening at midnight?

Ever wondered about the human yearning

That cries out from the throat of a bird?

I know how much you know! O my heartless one,

You only know

You are you, I am me. But you do not know, why we create

Triumphant garlands of joy

 

From faded flowers. And why we erect golden palaces 

Of blissful union

From the world's sorrow-filled mud, filling them with

Blood from the heart.

Why do we anoint the feet of the goddess? You will not understand

With what sorrow, on the failed evening

Of the tenth day, we bid farewell to the same goddess

We had consecrated on the sixth.

The night is descending, but let us not light any lamps.

By the soft light of

Your eyes tonight you will destroy the darkness

That envelops this world.