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Beyond
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Juhu (Juhu) Translated by Sudeshna Chakravarti Alighting from To the sea beach a Juhu, Somen Palit had begged a little silence from the sun; Having come so far from After losing society and philosophy, Science and theory, Love, too, abandoned with declining youth, He had hoped, on the eastern sea beach To drink the white breeze all day Upon the sand; where days merge into years, Years into a lifetime—the nickel watch with the edge Of the sun’s dial—where his body,
behind the arnatto-red sunlight Would perhaps drink orangeade, floating The Pouring on his round head Sun, sand, sea-foam, leisure, the sun’s red glow, Would efface in a trice the bubbles of thought Like a wood-apple gnawed by vaporous elephants. Yet a wonderful harmony appeared from beyond his back: No wave, and, sun or lunatic wind, nothing— A few yards away, the hum of the airport Soon found its mark—voices of eager delight Surrounded him in multitudes, like Taurus, Aries,
Scorpio: All with keen eyes, their heads each
on its own pair of shoulders— No reiteration, bothering about headaches. By his own mistake, he had sometimes thought The pen mightier than the sword, Written prefaces, books addressing everyone! Sometimes, abandoning
budget-meetings, women, party politics, meat and marmalade, He had given highest preference To the god incarnate in pig-flesh, The crowd of children with tomato-red cheeks, The enthusiasm of dogs, horse-riders, Parsis,
white women, Eunuchs, Bedouins, the sea beach, Juhu, the sun, foam, sand—in Most pleasures himself, excited by others’ loves!— As if on both his cheeks, within his matchless beard Two owls related by marriage Sit at home, though they have discovered the three
worlds. Munsi, Savarkar, Nariman,
from three viewpoints descended To see the ladies, out of curiosity Clear as marble, And the artists all immutable, who love Theirs desires, like rain before
clouds, fulfilled before they are uttered.
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