The first dream…
An island surrounded by a green, green sea.
Everywhere, trees yielding heavenly fruit.
Golden-yellow sand drifts.
Fishermen at rest.
The second dream…
Pale blue fields.
Pomegranates, lit up by the sun’s rays
Weaver birds’ nests, hanging down,
Under the shade, women opening
their bundles of food.
The third dream…
A crimson sea.
Gardens caught up and drowning
in a vortex.
Sand drifts lost in the waves.
Fishermen’s wrinkled necks.
Burnt out fields.
Sun’s rays swallowing up the fruit.
Empty nests, broken, torn.
© 2012 by Sharmila Sayeed. Translation © 2015 by Lakshmi Holmström. All rights reserved.
