Kajal Bandyopadhyay
Translated by: Sreemoyee Chatterjee
I have to smile.
Even after whatever happens and everything, I have to smile
Even after discerning the ashes of disgust in the eternally quiescent face, I have to smile
I must smile, smile through this lifelong travail.
Like I smiled a few days ago
To lessen the sharpness of my friend’s renegade;
I have extinguished the all-devouring fire with the water of my smiling face;
Slurry water, dirty water..
Or in self-defense do I shed my tears smilingly?
The answers befool me
But my smile should be free from the worries of the eternal wait
Or from the helplessness of restlessness--
laughter should be chanson!
I must smile through the anger of colligation; through the reducing anger
By reforming my truth, my weapons, my morals, my ethics, I have to flaunt a solitary smile.
I have to smile even if I am deranged, committed only to prosperity and opulence.
I smiled once when I was bereft of everything
I smiled through my gains and losses
Even today I hang myself in that hollow smile of mine
Even today my hollow smile is deported in the prison of my denticles!
The translator is the Senior Manager, State Bank of India.
