ધીરુ પરીખ ~ એક હસ્તને * અનુવાદ પ્રદીપ ખાંડવાળા

🥀 🥀

છપ્પા : અક્ષર અંગ ~ ધીરુ પરીખ

એક હસ્તને એવું ચેન,
કાગળ દેખી પકડે પેન;
પેન મહીંથી દદડે શાહી,
એને અક્ષર ગણતો ચાહી;
ટીપાં એમ સૌ ટોળે વળે,
પછી હસ્તને આખો ગળે.

અક્ષરનો ત્યાં ઢગલો થયો,
હસ્ત પછી માતેલો ભયો;
એમ વધુ એ લખતો જાય,
લખતો લખતો લેખક થાય;
લેખક થાતાં લબકે પેન,
અક્ષરટીપે ચડતું ઘેન.

~ ધીરુ પરીખ

🥀 🥀

About Letters : Dhiru Parikh

Such is the sign of a hand
it sees paper and picks up pen.
From the pen ink trickles
the hand thinks these are all letters.
The droplets all together band
then they swallow the entire hand.

Thus swallowed it reaches nether
can’t accept this alphabetic water.
In the water the hand dozes
the paper oppressed nothing utters.
The writing gets longer and longer
the ink remains, letters spill over.

Where can the spilt letters go?
They are in turmoil O.
In a queue the letters stand
‘I’ll write verse’ declares the hand.
Among the lines the hand gets lost
the paper surely isn’t anyone’s lord.

Of letters grows there a big heap
then the hand seems to swagger indeed.
More and more does the hand write
turns finally into an author quite.
On turning author the pen strikes
drop by literary drop stupor spreads.

From the stupor he can’t awaken
nor can the pen sense the letters’ pain.
On and on he keeps on writing
and the letters keep on him grazing.
Finally emerges what a fate
the pen flows on and drowns the alphabet!

Translated by Pradip N. Khandwalla