Snake

Original : Assamese : Guna Moran
Translation : Bibekananda Choudhury

I frisson on seeing a snake

As if the long venomous tongue jutting out

Would bite me lethally

Instantly on seeing

But the number of death

Bitten by long pointed tongues

As thousand time less

Than the number killed by

Blunt tongues

Failure far exceeds the achievements

The fear of losing in achievement

Is not there in failure

As the fact

How heartbreaking is the sorrow

Of losing after having

Compared to

Not having at all

Is vivid in memory of the snake

It juts out its long forked tongue

So that none can settle at a desolate corner of its heart

The tongue is the impenetrable sentinel

Of the inner world of the snake

Visitor takes to its heels

On seeing the guard

But snake do not chase to bite anyone

Actually

All the snakes are innocent

We are indeed

Panicky.

Guna Moran

Guna Moran is an Assamese poet. He dwells in Assam belongs to India. His poems have been publishing in native leading newspapers and magazines including Best Poetry, Tuck Magazine, The Sentinel, The Hills Times and so on.

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