(POEM) The Inheritance By: KedarNath Agarwal
(English Translation)

The Inheritance
'yug ki ganga'

At the death of his father,
The son
Of a starving farmer has --
The debris of his house,
The broken cot and a few
Yards of land all barren,
A sole of a country made shoes.
A small broken goad to drive
The bullocks with,
A cracked scuttle, a smoking pipe
Constantly leaking.
A pair of tongs made of thin iron sheet,
And rivalling against the mound
Of gold
A swelling heap of rubbish before
His door,
The staggering debt of the money lender
That he can never pay off with his
All efforts -
All these he inherits from his father:
And leaving these ha has white ants,
Ticks, months and bugs
To live with him in his dingy cell.
Its not all : he gets a hunger
Far more keen that that of
His father.
With a hollow stomach, he roams
About
Keeping his mouth spread open.
What Independence means for him?
Or how wag the things in a free
Country?
How is he concerned with all this?

 

Excerpts from Book- "Poems of KedarNath Agarwal" (1990)
By: Indrajith Singh