Mopuru’s poem is a tale of lost love and broken dreams, where the once-vibrant world fades into a colourless, lonely existence, exclusively for DifferentTruths.

Behind the kohl darkness,
Broken mercury tears of pearls.
If the cardboard box of dreams is opened,
Many sleepless nights,
Fallen crescent,
Wilted stars,
Fractured rainbow,
Somewhere thrown sky,
Salty heart’s shore,
The breath being whisked by separation.
The room is filled with the tingling of coins.
No melody of smiles, no music of shining bangles.
The smell of vines overpowers the room.
The smell of money too fills the room.
But no smell of a person.
Their lives, which ran constantly and got tired of coloured papers.
are the paper flowers with no fragrance of love.

Translated by Jyothsnaphanija

Picture design, Anumita Roy

Mopuru Penchula Narasimham

Mopuru Penchula Narasimham is a Telugu poet, short story writer, and novelist from Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India. He is a poet of courage and clarity. He never took his visual impairment as an onset to his literary career. He hosts several literary events and is honoured with many literary awards, such as Kavita Praveena, the Ranjani Kundhurthi Poetry Prize, the Vishalakshi Poetry Prize, the North American Telugu Association’s poetry prize, and others.

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