With Love,
Poem by G. Sasi (1959-2002)
Soumini,
You said that black is beautiful
Poets have sung it
Then,
How did the black people get humiliated?
We are not the ones who suck blood and sweat
We are melting…
The blazing sun and the burning earth
Are not tending us
Mother,
There is no space for the black people
To hide in your wings
We are being thrown out
Oh mother Kali!
Your neck has been ornamented
By whose heads?
When you quench your anger
By sucking blood
On whose headless body are you standing?
Soumini,
Don’t say for the sake of saying
That black is beautiful…
Don’t sing,
Black is the seed of riot in the self
Mountain of turbulence
Shadow of suffering
The color of love
(Translated from Malayalam by Sreekala Sivasankaran)
G. Sasi was born in 1959 in Madhuraveli, Kottayam district of Kerala . His parents Gopalan and Kuttippennu worked as coolies and they lived in the Ayamkudi slum colony. Sasi, after completing his school education went to college but could not continue the studies. His poems were published in Malayalam in Dynamic Action, Adhasthitha Navodhana Munnani Bulletin, Yukthi Rekha, Samakaleena Kavitha, Manorajyam etc. Falling prey to a bout of deep depression, G. Sasi committed suicide in his house in the Ayamkudi slum in 2002. Collection of his poems, “Balikkakka” was published in 2001.
Soumini,
You said that black is beautiful
Poets have sung it
Then,
How did the black people get humiliated?
We are not the ones who suck blood and sweat
We are melting…
The blazing sun and the burning earth
Are not tending us
Mother,
There is no space for the black people
To hide in your wings
We are being thrown out
Oh mother Kali!
Your neck has been ornamented
By whose heads?
When you quench your anger
By sucking blood
On whose headless body are you standing?
Soumini,
Don’t say for the sake of saying
That black is beautiful…
Don’t sing,
Black is the seed of riot in the self
Mountain of turbulence
Shadow of suffering
The color of love
(Translated from Malayalam by Sreekala Sivasankaran)
G. Sasi was born in 1959 in Madhuraveli, Kottayam district of Kerala . His parents Gopalan and Kuttippennu worked as coolies and they lived in the Ayamkudi slum colony. Sasi, after completing his school education went to college but could not continue the studies. His poems were published in Malayalam in Dynamic Action, Adhasthitha Navodhana Munnani Bulletin, Yukthi Rekha, Samakaleena Kavitha, Manorajyam etc. Falling prey to a bout of deep depression, G. Sasi committed suicide in his house in the Ayamkudi slum in 2002. Collection of his poems, “Balikkakka” was published in 2001.
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