To Dear Aana:Suresh Kadam

Suresh Kadam

To Dear Aana

The sunset does not bury our sorrows,

Nor does sunrise bring new hopes.

Everything continues relentlessly.

Society, bound by her rituals of ages,

Chews up chunks of human flesh

In blind fury:

The horse she rides

Bleeds and foams at the mouth;

She holds the reins

Of an ancient system;

Her predator’s ears

Listen for the twittering of birds;

In the orthodoxy of her world

Passion and intensity are ridiculed.

Therefore, dear Aana,

You ought not to have cherished expectations

Of a lingering kiss in the long night.

Translated by Vilas Sarang