Sunday, July 3, 2016

Locust Years/ Khaukhuap Kum - Malsawmi Jacob

locust years

honey in a broken jar
summer breeze caught in a net
flowed  blowed away
into lunglo* stream.

glowing golden yarn on loom—
sunlit days and starlit nights
rolled scrolled away
never back will roll.

but the silver strands in hand
pretty pattern yet may weave
hide the scars of
locust eaten years.


*Lunglo is the stream of forgetting on the way to the world of the dead in Mizo myth


     ~~~


khaukhuap kum

khawizu bur keha thun leh
thlifim chhihriha dan chu
a baw zo, a tleh liam
lunglo tuiah an pil zo.

thembu-a rangka zai ban –
ni em ni, si-ar em zan
an zial bo, an her bo
an kir leh ngai tawh lo’ng e.

silvar zai kuta kawl lai
tahpuan atan bang ila
ze mawi dang a chhuah mah na
khaukhuap ei ser* zawng thup nan.    


©Malsawmi Jacob


Blogger's note: I am so happy to be able to post here an original poem in English and the poet's translation of it in Mizo. With the increasing interest in Northeast culture and literature, including poetry in Mizo and their translations, this is something to treasure.