D E S I R E - P o e m s  b y  S w a r n j i t S a v i
Translation from Punjabi  Ajmer Rode

1

Whatever you are :
body, form, formless
man, house, toy, god,
dust, ruin, earth, sky
word, tune, line
Whatever you are
bird, sun, redness
morning-evening
joy-sorrow
flight-drive
Whatever you are
move, darkness, brightness
delicate-solid...
Whatever you are
you're an image
entering my eyes
taking shape in my mind
And whatever I am
I am an image
formed woven grown
out of you

2

I draw close to you
My whole being
tiptoes for an intimate gaze
of you
like the iron-particles
restlessly meeting the magnet
the experience of seeing you
touching you
gives rhythm to the
waters flowing within
makes you a
body vibrating with music
you are transformed
into cosmic orchestra

In whichever direction
I see
whatever I touch
My breath smoulders
feelings caress
turbulent notes emanate
shimmering and ablaze
they pervade our universe
This is the only way—
mingling with the notes
of your each lyre
I will create new ragas
my whole life
O body blaring music

4

I am
absorbed in writing the last
word in the Book of your body
But seems I haven't
even begun yet
not even a word so far
I'm still entangled in the verse of
that last word...

Your body is limited
but within and without
it knows no limits
I have
scribbled my feelings
on every limb of your body
have spread my limbs
all over
on your feelings...

Seems you are
a boundless ocean
and I
a child playing on your waves
entangled in your waves
scared of your waves
Seems
the bird the dream and the net
are always there together

Though
I am still absorbed writing the
last word in the Book of your body...

5

 I touch you
with my eyes closed
Within me floats
the animated, dancing
flute of
Hari Parasad Chaurasia

My heart beats like
the vivacious
notes springing forth
from the Santoor of Shiv Kumar Sharma
Hypnotized,
I wander
through your being
through your maya
affected by the desire of you
bitten by my lava within, I
am not free for even a thousandth
of a moment.

I touch you
with my eyes closed.

6

 The desert within me
burns
Hunger-thirst
is a mirage in it,
the birth and death
the eternal cycle,
the universe
the planets on the
hot skies within...
all these are nothing but the
opening of a lotus
And it's for all these:
desert to land
land to water
-prana -breath-energy
and then the sprouting
of a green stem...
it's for all these
that I live I die
again and again

7

 As the shadow
0f coverings
of garments
on your body
progressed
I
was deprived
of the beauty of nature,
of a gentle attraction
of an awesome naked ocean
I became
more and more
confined
I was no longer my own self
you were natural no more
but the attraction of you
remained vivid
exciting
beyond all coverings

And I
a natural lover of yours
make love to you
in my fancy
with all the powers of
my senses in unison

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