Sunday Translation By Asim Bhattacharya (Original poem: Sunil Gangopadhyay)

Just for the sake of poetry

just for the sake of poetry is this birth, just for the sake of poetry
some merriment, just for the sake of poetry crossing over the globe
alone in a frosty evening, just for the sake of poetry
a glimpse of the tranquility of an unwinking face;
just for the sake of poetry, you are a woman, just
for the sake of poetry so much bloodshed, Gangetic showers
from the clouds, just for the sake of poetry, the desire to live even longer.
survival is painful like that of a man, just
for the sake of poetry, I’ve trifled with immortality.

Original in Bengali by Sunil Gangopadhyay