If that Emblem was Attained

(Translated by Vincent Dip Gomes)
 

We thought that if that one emblem was attained

I would no longer write poetry stemming from pain and agony.
 

We thought that if that one emblem was attained

The bhajan singer Mistress Sabita

Would chant in her futile forties, – 'achieved, achieved.'
 

We thought that if that emblem was attained

The leaf picker's daughter would bask in the Sun on winter mornings

Listening to the national anthem in the murmuring of leaves.
 

We thought that if that one emblem was attained

Landless Monu Miya would sing the song of contentment during summer,

The war babies would thrive with nourishment and self-esteem.
 

We thought that if that emblem was attained

We would submit all our misery in the joint farms,

And take-home equal shares of happiness yielded from

The collective and scientific farming.

Vincent Dip Gomes is a freshly minted graduate from the Department of English and Humanities, ULAB.