Venice, Unaccompanied By Monica Youn In Hindi/Urdu Translation Poem by Ravi Kopra

Venice, khaali awaaz

so kar jab main uthi
train main to muje laga
k hum pe roshni

hamla karnnay main lagi hai:
chrome rung jaisay pakshi
kutcH main pal rahey thay.

pehlay din
bouys hi thay badarghah main
bardasht jo main ne kiyay:

lagay vo pennies jaisay sikkay
hemline main silay huay.
fir main ne seekh liya

kaisay rahooN gi main is sub main,
ghoomti hui is ajeeb shehar main -
shahd ki makhiaN paalnay waaley ki aadat main-

bhayankar roshni chipki hui thee
mere sar aur haathon pe.
har ne mera auroN ki tarah

swaagat kiya dyaaluta se -
har ghar pe laga hua tha
kaantoN ki taar se ghira antenna

signal pakadnay ko
har tarah k mausam main -
fir bhi main nay siskiaN leeN

ek kooDay se bhari saDak pe,
sheeshay k boxay main khaDay hui
jab meray phone card main bachay kuch lire

pissuoN ki tarah bahar aa rahay thay.
"dukh se main kehti hooN
muje ye bardasht nahin,

bataao,
hum dono main se
kisko tum pyaar kartay ho."

- -

Venice, Unaccompanied
BY MONICA YOUN

Waking
on the train, I thought
we were attacked

by light:
chrome-winged birds
hatching from the lagoon.

That first day
the buoys were all
that made the harbor

bearable:
pennies sewn into a hemline.
Later I learned to live in it,

to walk
through the alien city—
a beekeeper's habit—

with fierce light
clinging to my head and hands.
Treated as gently as every

other guest—
each house's barbed antennae
trawling for any kind

of weather—
still I sobbed in a glass box
on an unswept street

with the last
few lire ticking like fleas
off my phonecard I'm sorry

I can't
stand this, which
one of us do you love?