An evocative cloud poem by Yogesh Mamgain, Canada, in Hindi, explores memory, movement, and longing, bridging continents through lyrical imagination and cross-cultural translation by Sunil for Different Truths.
बादल
अब बरसात में
भीगता नहीं,
डूब जाता है
इंसान ।
घरों को
नहीं थामता
अब पहाड़,
लील जाता है
मकान ।
उफनती नदियाँ
नीर नहीं,
बहाती हैं
इंसान ।
पत्थर व रेत
बुनियाद नहीं,
कब्रगाहें हैं
घरों की
सुनसान ।
प्रकृति से जब
कटते हैं बादल,
तब बरसते नहीं
बस फटते हैं।
Clouds
Rain no longer
drenches, only
drowns.
No longer, the
mountain holds,
only
swallows homes.
Swollen river, not anymore
a source of drinkable water,
only sweeps away creatures.
Stone and sand are not the
foundation, but
become the
graveyards of solitary homes.
When severed from nature, clouds
no longer rain,
end up in cloudbursts only.
Picture design by Anumita Roy
Bio of the Poet:
Yogesh Mamgain, a Hindi poet originally from Uttarakhand and linked to Himachal Pradesh, has lived in Canada since 2013. He earned Science and Education degrees from Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, and Rohtak University, Haryana, and taught in Himachal Pradesh before migrating. He participates in poets’ gatherings at the district, state, national, and international levels, with works in reputed journals. A Board Director of the Hindi Writers’ Guild, Canada, he recites at forums like World Hindi Day, the Indian Council, Toronto.
A humble word-worshipper: catcher of elusive sounds, meanings and images. Published 27 creative and critical books— joint and solo. A winner of, among others, the Panorama Golden Globe Award-2023, and, Nissim Award for Excellence-2022 for the novel Minotaur. His poems were included in the prestigious UN project: Happiness: The
Delight-Tree: An Anthology of Contemporary International Poetry, 2015.
Editor of the monthly Setu journal (English):
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