Despair

Translation of Guha’s Bengali poem Niraasha

I know you will never forgive me
For I have disappointed you 
Turned you away time and again
Yet I will keep singing without a care
The tune that captivated my heart

Before you leave if you ask yourself
What do I have?
You will sink in your memories
Yet find nothing there
Other than a museum of the dead past

Like a child looses itself in play
Taking a pacifier for the mother’s breasts
So are you living with memories
Untouched by the living energy
Erasing the present out of fear
You keep your restless mind occupied

To forget the unbearable pain of your existence
Held captive by the stranglehold of thought
You speak of the glories and the stories of the past
What’s the point in reciting “Om tat saviturvarenyam …”
When the sun rays disappear into the void
Forever failing to find a receptacle

The human mind is like the African jungle
Like the rainforest of Amazon
Sunlight has never found its way in