Poems of Aduri Satyavathi Devi
Poem-9
Under the Shower of Honeyed Poetry
Telugu Original: Aduri Satyavathi Devi
English Translation: Munipalle Raju
When the heart turns to a battleground
When the battle itself is the essence of life
The serial of aesthetic dreams split –
Splintered fine dust of broken glass
Liquid honey slides smooth on the scene
The throttled voice of the time
Hangs topsy-turvy like a bat in the cave.
Oh, whence came this lighted eye!
Why it leads the inner nirvana of mine
To an unknown world somewhere out,
And seats me on a swing of tender leaves?
Why it paints the anguished seas of faceless woes
With moonlight fragrance of incense lots?
Then comes the peacock dance
Ballet steps of wild abandon
Inspired by rhythmic sights and beats
Overhead clouds emitting thunder and light
An earth worm wriggles in the slushy mud
But the lighted eye teaches it the peacock dance!
How it ignites the sentiment humane
Building a ladder… step overstep
From the inner heights to silent intensities?
How to guess who was the lucky first
To hug this dynamic chisel of script
From mere burning and blazing
Convoluted to path finding and singing?
The little ruby flower blossoms in the grass
Its life is short … a momentary beauty
A child of thrill and intense excitement
But I lose my heart to this tiny star!
Whether in eager longing of mind
Or fascinating passion of the soul
It follows like a shadow and
Animates the being like a striking force
A waterfall on the beads of bones of back
How wonderful to feel beyond all worlds
To master the art of gifting this life
Of reflections and reveries to lyrical slant
Or to reborn as the controlling thread
Of this flying kite of muse
To pay tributes to the priceless boons
Of aesthetic movements and
Burning responses of spiritual honey
Both racing like mercurial flows.
*****
Telugu Original : ‘Kavithvapu Thene Vaanalo’
Aduri Satyavathi Devi was born in Guntur in the year 1948 and settled in Visakhapatnam after marriage in 1969. She began her literary career as a lyricist at the age of 13. She wrote a variety of lyrics numbering about 300 — light, classical, devotional, patriotic, children’s and others. More than 50 songs of Satyavati Devi were broadcast over All India Radio. Eventually she made forays into various other literary genres like Poetry, Short story, Essay, Radio Play, Musical Feature, Books, Film reviews, Forewords etc..She created a substantial corpus of poetry with more than 180 poems included in 4 anthologies of poetry. She received accolades from readers, scholars, critics and litterateurs for her sensitive rendering of poems. She participated in many Poetry Meets, Festivals conducted by All India Radio, Doordarshan and the Sahitya Akademi. She was widely translated into English and Hindi. Some of the translations appeared in renowned journals like Indian Literature (English), and Samakaaleen Bharateeya Saahitya (Hindi).
She published her first volume of lyrics Vennello Venugaanam in 1988. Her first volume of poetry Rekkamudavani Raagam was published in 1992 followed by Jalapaata Geetam in 1997 and Veyirangula Velugu Raagam in 2006. Hindi translation of Rekkamudavani Raagam came out in 2008 as “Pankh an Modnevaalaa Raag” and a miscellany of various facets of her literary endeavour Vennela Paarijaataalu was published posthumously in Dec 2008. She received many prizes and awards for her literary pursuits and accomplishments like STVD Kalasamithi Award for Rekkamudavani Raagam in 1993, and Telugu University’s “Pratibha Puraskaram” as “Best Poet” in 1994, “Krishna Sastry Award” from Andhra Lalita Kala Samithi (Secunderabad) in 1998, UNESCO Literary Award in 2000, and “Ramavruksha Benipuri Janma Sataabdi Sammaan” from Jaimuni Academy (Panipat) in 2002. An English translation of her poem, “Veyirekkala Pavuram” (Myriad Winged Bird) has been included in the syllabus of English texts in the poetry section of Degree year students by the Common Core syllabus Committee in AP from 2008.