DE NOVO
PHANI BABU
Getting many a rebuff in
life
as I resolve to retreat,
my eyes haply fall on the flower-tub
there.
From each little branch
formerly clipped
new twigs have shoot out, I
see!
Piqued by the thought:
I haven’t been able to
be
even a plant prickly,
I spring to my feet, and
turn round
gingering up my bruised heart.
–Translated from Bengali by UMANATH BHATTACHARYA