Cat -- Jibanananda Das

Guest poem sent in by Raghavendra Udupa U

(Poem #662) Cat Again and again through the day I meet a cat. In the tree's shade, in the sun, in the crowding brown leaves. After the success of a few fish bones Or inside a skeleton of white earth I find it, as absorbed in the purring Of its heart as a bee. Still it sharpens its claws on the gulmohar tree And follows the sun all day long. Now I see it and then it is gone, Losing itself somewhere. On the autumn evening I have watched it play, Stroking the soft body of the saffron sun With a white paw. Then it caught The darkness in paws like small balls And scattered it all over the earth. -- Jibanananda Das

Translated by: Lila Ray
[[broken link] http://userpages.umbc.edu/~achatt1/poem/cat.html]

There is a poem titled Cat by Jibanananda Das. I don't know Bangla and hence I
haven't read the original. However, the English translation is beautiful and
the image it creates is mesmerizing. The last four lines are magical, a
wonderful way to end a good poem.

regards,
Raghavendra