Winter! Early Winter
Photo: Karan Madhok
‘Yellow plants cover the paddy field, / As if a new sky had fallen from above. / They touch it with pleasure, set their boxes, / Cropping plants half asleep & half awake.’
Afloat sounds of grouping reaper,
They are going to trim the plants.
Sunrise and noon,
Afternoon and sunset.
Foggy net prevents me from seeing them properly!
Maybe, all aren’t wearing vermillion
But they are smiling.
Flirting with each other on the road.
Reaper carrying scythe, carrying
Bags and tiffin boxes in their hands,
Some lift young babies on their backs.
The pebbled road covered with feet.
Ripening corn wearing foggy clothes.
Who will wait for the Sun to dry out the fog?
Who will wait for the wind to blow the fog?
“No sleep until I finish my work.”
Like water, they are heading sequentially.
Whether married or unmarried,
Whether young or mature,
Enjoying the foggy morning.
Yellow plants cover the paddy field,
As if a new sky had fallen from above.
They touch it with pleasure, set their boxes,
Cropping plants half asleep & half awake.
The Sun sits above the head,
Children play with straws,
Reaper reaping the plants
Bending down their head.
Sun and wind kiss their covered bodies,
Tittering smiles travel with the wind,
It hits the hovering birds,
And kisses them lightly.
Winter! Early winter.
When the sun sinks in the horizon,
The farmers move towards them
To harvest rice stacks from the field.
Once more, the road’s disappeared;
All male females return home
With the same smile,
With the smell of ripening.
***
Nayanjyoti Baruah is a trilingual poet, essayist and translator. His poems have been appeared domestic and international magazines and journals including Tayls, Rasa Literary Review, Felicity, Akhore, Meghali Budhidrom, The Fiction Project, A Too Powerful Word, and more. You can find him on Instagram: @nayanjyoti2544.
