जलता कोयला (with English Translation) by Garima Mishra

This soulful poem by Garima was selected (theme: Winter) to be published in our yearbook called Lampshade Writers Journal to be released in this year (2022).  Email: lampshadewriters@gmail.com to be a part of the yearbook. 

Go ahead, read and savour the poem :)

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जलता कोयला

कौशाम्बी की कपकपाती ठंडी में,
कौड़ा तापते-तापते,
एक ख्याल मन की गली से गुज़रा..
क्या ये लाल-लाल कोयले के टुकड़े,
आपस में बातें करते होंगे?
जलते-जलते अपने आखरी दम में,
जिस खान से निकले थे,
क्या उस कोख को याद करते होंगे?

मीलों का सफर तय करके,
पहुँचते हैं किसी घर की रसोई के चूल्हे में…
खुद जलकर बुझाते हुए किसी की भूख,
क्या ये खुश होकर बिलखते होंगे?

मूल रूप मेँ काजल से काले,
जलकर लाल सूरज से,
सिगड़ी के मन में करे उजाले |
जब सहलाते होंगे अपनी लालिमा से,
घर के बुज़ुर्गों की बूढी हड्डियों को,
तब क्या उनके आशीर्वाद को ये भी तरसते होंगे?

कौशाम्बी की कपकपाती ठंडी में,
कौड़ा तापते-तापते,
एक ख्याल मन की गली से गुज़रा...



* कौड़ा - सर्दियों के मौसम में देहातों में अक्सर लोग आग जलाकर, उसके चारों तरफ बैठ आग की गर्मी का आनंद लेते है - इसे कौड़ा कहते है |

 

कौशांबी भारतीय राज्य उत्तर प्रदेश का एक जिला है। जैन व बौद्ध भूमि के रूप में प्रसिद्ध कौशांबी उत्तर प्रदेश राज्य का एक ज़िला है। 

 

 

 

 

English Translation of the poem

 

 

Glow of the Embers

 

 
Seated by the bonfire
In the freezing winters of Kaushambi
A thought,
ran across the mind...

Do the glowing red embers
Ever speak of their lives with one another?
With every breath that they take towards the end,
Do they remember the mine that nursed them in her womb?

Traveling to kitchens unknown
O’er hills & vales; rivers & sea
To satiate burning hunger
Would they ever find happiness in it?

Darker than the kohl of eyeliners, at birth
They glow like mini suns, in the braziers of death
Warming the bones of the old and elderly, wondering
Would there be any blessings left for them?

Seated by the bonfires
In the freezing winders of Kaushambi,
All these thoughts,
Ran across my mind…

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Garima Mishra is a Pune-based independent writer. She worked in the field of journalism for more than 15 years with The Indian Express. She worked as a research associate for the biography Extraordinary life and death of Sunanda Pushkar. Her Hindi poems have been published in a poetry collection book Udaan Naye Parindon Ki. The poem जलता कोयला is inspired by her winter vacation in a village named Raksarai near Koshambi (UP).