Poem
Kunwar Narain
Description of the Missing One
Wheat-coloured, a peasant’s ways,
scarred brow,
height not under five feet,
talks like he’s never known grief.
Stammering,
if you ask his age, he’ll tell you –
several thousand years, give or take a few . . .
Seems crazy, but isn’t.
Has fallen off high places more than once,
and got all broken up, so
looks glued together,
like the map of India.
© Translation: 1993, Daniel Weissbort and Kunwar Narain
From: Periplus: Poetry in Translation
Publisher: Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1993
From: Periplus: Poetry in Translation
Publisher: Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1993
DESCRIPTION OF THE MISSING ONE
© 1979, Kunwar Narain
From: Apne Samne
Publisher: Rajkamal Prakashan, New Delhi
From: Apne Samne
Publisher: Rajkamal Prakashan, New Delhi
Poems
Poems of Kunwar Narain
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Description of the Missing One
Wheat-coloured, a peasant’s ways,
scarred brow,
height not under five feet,
talks like he’s never known grief.
Stammering,
if you ask his age, he’ll tell you –
several thousand years, give or take a few . . .
Seems crazy, but isn’t.
Has fallen off high places more than once,
and got all broken up, so
looks glued together,
like the map of India.
© 1993, Daniel Weissbort and Kunwar Narain
From: Periplus: Poetry in Translation
Publisher: 1993, Oxford University Press, New Delhi
From: Periplus: Poetry in Translation
Publisher: 1993, Oxford University Press, New Delhi
Description of the Missing One
Wheat-coloured, a peasant’s ways,
scarred brow,
height not under five feet,
talks like he’s never known grief.
Stammering,
if you ask his age, he’ll tell you –
several thousand years, give or take a few . . .
Seems crazy, but isn’t.
Has fallen off high places more than once,
and got all broken up, so
looks glued together,
like the map of India.
© 1993, Daniel Weissbort and Kunwar Narain
From: Periplus: Poetry in Translation
Publisher: 1993, Oxford University Press, New Delhi
From: Periplus: Poetry in Translation
Publisher: 1993, Oxford University Press, New Delhi
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