THE MOTHERS WHO ASK FOR THE BICYCLES OF CHILDREN WHO ASK FOR MILK-POWDER BAGS

A poem by Deebachelvan in Tamil, titled
PAALMAA PAIKKATRUKKALAI KOERUM KUZHANDHAI GALIN
THUVICHAKKARA VANDIGALAI KOERUM THAAIMAARGAL

Translated into English by Latha Ramakrishnan
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For trying the cradle made of cloth
for children
They went around requesting everybody.
Having their children in the rear-seat
of their borrowed bi-cycles
they go.
Tales abound in the pages of books
that they simultaneously play the roles of
Mothers and Wives.

About widowed female students
and those separated from their husbands
I have written very many letters.
In their letters written to me
tears swell and overflow.

With children waiting for long
wandering in search of houses
in vain they return in the evening hours.
Taking hold of their child and books
with great care
they drink the tea that remains
acutely restive.

All that they ask for
are milk-powder bags for their children
and books.
Boiling evening time.
Seems like the Sun, going down,
has fallen into their tea-cup.

How many days have gone since we began to
stay in our relative’s house?
Right from morning the child keeps on crying.
In the book
the houses sprout and multiply
marvelously.
In the centre of the book thrown open
cycles
and milk-powder bags lie in abundance.
Spreading the evening and mother’s book,
wide-opened,
the child keeps on reading them.
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