These three poems are from author and poet Ruth Vanita바카라™s book 바카라˜The Broken Rainbow (Poems and Translations)바카라™. These three are from a chapter titled 바카라˜LGBTQIA...Or Perhaps A to Z바카라™.
a villanelle
You can take the lesbian out of India,
Strike matching letters, tally up the rest.
What remains will start to seem familiar.
Eros unveiled the features of accidia.
The happy ending turned into a quest.
Can you take the lesbian out of India?
Decanting hope and exorcising fear,
Distil the elements of east and west.
What remains will start to seem familiar.
Spell in reverse, add middle names, discover
A hidden player made the game a test.
You can take the lesbian out of India.
Hate cancels liking, adoration lingers,
Love cooks into a mishmash all the rest.
What remains will start to seem familiar.
Dorsetshire, Montana, West Virginia,
Country roads to migratory nests.
What you took away was the familiar.
The lesbian is still writing verse in India.
for Prageeta, who asked the question
For years it lay quiet in a corner바카라”
the answer a mirror caked with dust,
till a slant question set it dazzling.
To what school of poets did you belong?
she asked. Belong? Where? In what world?
There was a you, an I, but no바카라”no 바카라˜we바카라™.
The dead were speaking and I overheard
enough to stammer. Song needs windows.
Maybe one will do, if through the bars
a king may hear a minstrel serenade.
translation of a ghazal by Insha Allah Khan 바카라˜Insha바카라™ Dehlavi (1756-1817)
A man speaks:
Your cheek is made for kisses
Why shouldn바카라™t I ask for kisses?
When my mouth touched your lips
They turned red with kisses
Locks falling over that face say
바카라˜We바카라™ve woven a net of kisses바카라™
In the morning your cheeks were blue
Due to last night바카라™s thoughts of kisses
O mister, I바카라™m dying, do give them to me
Today give me your promised kisses
This is a fresh sapling, and look!
It blossomed with the bliss of kisses