एक बार/ Just Once

Today I’m going to share one of the poems written by Mahadevi Verma ji, an eminent personality of the modern Hindi era, popularly known as the Modern Meera.

She perfectly portrays the emotions of love, longing, betrayal, void , etc in her Hindi poems. Her notable works include ‘Gullu’, ‘Neelkanth’, ‘Yama’ and ‘Mera Parivaar’.

She was considered as one of the four major pillars of the Chhayawadi era in Hindi literature. She was the first woman to be awarded the Sahitya Akademy Fellowship in 1979. She had also received Padma Bhushan (1956) and Padma Vibhushan (1988).

So here is her poem,
जो तुम आ जाते एक बार/ If once you would have arrived
followed by English translation:

जो तुम आ जाते एक बार…

कितनी करुणा कितने सन्देश,
पथ में बिछ जाते बन पराग,
गाता प्राणों का तार तार,
अनुराग भरा उन्माद राग,

आँसू लेते वे पथ पखार
जो तुम आ जाते एक बार…

हँस उठते पल में आर्द्र नयन
धुल जाता होठों से विषाद
छा जाता जीवन में बसंत
लुट जाता चिर संचित विराग

आँखें देतीं सर्वस्व वार
जो तुम आ जाते एक बार…

🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀

If once you would have arrived…

So many messages, so much compassion,
would lay like pollen on the path
each chord of my being would sing
a frenzy melody with passion infused

my tears would have washed that path
if once you would have arrived…

Wet eyes would have smiled at that moment,
sadness from my lips would have perished,
spring would have spread in my life
my eternal accumulated alienation would have vanished,

everything eyes would have sacrificed,
if once you would have arrived…

–Kaushal Kishore

images: pinterest