The river has always been a symbol of the eternal woman,
And the man, a mountain.
Now, the woman is the mountain,
And the flowing Padma is the man.
Clouds are metaphors of her long, dark hair,
Thunderstorm symbolizes the roar of his muscles.
Now, the horizon is the valor of Indrajit, the arms of man
While lightning adorns woman as ornament.
The desert echoes Sita’s desolate lament,
The ocean acts like The God Poseidon.
Today, the desert sand is the exile of manliness,
The ocean is the burning Ithaca of a waiting woman.
In a new arrangement, let the man tree be a figure like Gautama Buddha
And the woman, its green foliage.
Let the rain be man,
And the woman, the ceaseless wind.
Once, the man was Karna –
Son of the Sun,
While the woman was merely a body.
Today, she becomes blazing sunlight,
And the man, a head full of shadows.
Translated by Ashraf Chowdhury
