Famine (Sookha) [transcreation]

Parched land   dry jungle   the rivers & ponds have all disappeared
this year apparently won't be too different   from the last one

Look how my eyes gush in ceaseless prayer!   till my cheeks are soaked
great sky!   shouldn't you cry too?   don't allow a dry year once again

The season is playing a crooked game of chess   on the board of the earth
the heat is dancing out Tandava   while the sun keeps time

The children of Adam resemble fish   and fate's the cruel fisher
life like a scared deer bolts   death trails it like a keen hunter

Gokul is arid   the Yamuna's dead dry   & sere is the Kadam
the mother-like cow roams a'thirst   as likewise rambles Gopal

A trecherous net of worries is cast onto every forehead
at hunger's quiz the children are stymied & can't reply

At the dead-cow banquet   vultures & jackels feast with gusto
and Death himself pays a call   tricked out in the guise of famine



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Essentially a collaboration, as my metrical rendering is closly based on a literal English translation done by Manish Bhatt of his own, original Hindi poem.