The Blind Beggar

“Kavisamraat” VISWANATHA SATYANARAYANA

Whenever I travelled by train
I saw that blind beggar getting in
somewhere-led by his daughter.

He always recites the same poem
From “Dasarathi Satakam”
In his subdued voice
As if coming from a deep well.
May be–in his last birth
he fell into a well and yelled for help
And with nobody responding
that sound became subdued
And again came to him in this birth.

And his eyes! A pair of holes!
May be–he looked for help for long;
And with nobody responding
those eyes absorbed his life-breath
To present him as a blind man
in this birth.

As I sit listening to his poems
And looking at his blind eyes
My heart bleeds, as I think of his
Imaginary drowning accident
of his previous birth.

He then stops singing
and goes about begging
in the compartment.
As the train stops he gets down
led by his daughter
leaving me alone and musing.

–Translated from Telugu by Dr. Sankara Sreerama Rao