THE SAME NEWS

Every day the same newspaper column

Gulps of the same brackish news

Every day the same mouthful of promises;

Sentences dissected

Each word chewed again and again

How long can one masticate

The chewing gum of daily statements?

Now one has come to learn:

Just spit it out

If the mouth can take no more

Or else, add some ‘Zarda’

to a betal leaf

And quaff‘ paan’ around;

With some aromatic ‘Qimam’ applied to it

Just keep on swallowing time!

Poem by Gulzar (Translated from Urdu by Santanu Ray Chaudhuri.)