(Homage to Karl Marx)
Nabarun Bhattacharya
(23 June 1948 – 31 July 2014)
On the floor of a slaughterhouse
A butcher’s leg slips in the blood
Crows go raucous on the tinned roof
The cats outside sleep sniffing blood
Head severed from the body
The sound of skin ripping
Horn, gaping mouth, grass-flakes
Teeth clasped
The eyes of an astronaut –
Looking for grass in the galaxy
The vision of Hegel
Hangs upside down
A marvellous sky beyond the throat
Translated from the Bengali by Manash Bhattacharjee
Manash Bhattacharjee is a poet and a political science scholar from New Delhi. His first collection of poetry was published by The London Magazine and you can buy it here