Baance se bhaD kar
koi bhi hari cheez
aagay nahin upjati
aisay mujhe
patta hai
mera dukh
hara nahin hai.
Devdaar k peD
har mausam main
haray rehtay hain
aisay mujhe
patta hai
mera dukh
hara nahin hai
aur ek ampersand (&)
khaDa rehta hai
jahan silsila
khatm nahin hota
aisay mujhe
patta hai
mera dukh
ek amperstand hai.
-to be continued
How I Know My Grief
Nothing green
grows faster
than bamboo.
This is how
I know
my grief's
not green.
Pine trees,
season-
blind, are green.
This is how
I know
my grief
is green.
An ampersand
stands where
a sequence
is unfinished.
This is how
I know
my grief's
an ampersand.
Belonging,
though, is marked
by and and &—
this is how
I know
my grief's
no ampersand.
My grief is
wind, & also
the spaces be-
tween winds
which are some-
times called time—
but that's in error.
Where are
the hours &
the days so
green & end-
less now?
This is how
I know
my grief is
counter-clock
-wise, widder-
shins: contrary to
the sun's
traverse
across the sky.
A horizon
constrains
what can be seen.
This is how
I know
my grief
is a horizon—
but, even more,
the opposite
of the horizon,
where one can
never arrive.
Conversely,
my grief
can never be
escaped.
My grief is
on the other hand
& on this hand,
& on my lips
& in my eyes
& in my shadow,
which, forebod-
ingly's, contrary
to the sun
& to all things
green & growing
which must some
day die & I
do not know why
which is how
I know my grief.
-Jessica Goodfellow
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem