Poems of Aduri Satyavathi Devi
Poem-16
Sprout
Telugu Original: Aduri Satyavathi Devi
English Translation: J Bhagyalakshmi
It is not possible to travel smooth on any path
One comes across ups and downs, twists and turns
Before a man dies totally
Little waves of death confront him
Some unnatural race chases life
As if stopping at a traffic signal for a while before moving ahead,
As if running away from a dream,
Or running out of a circus tent
Yet one has to keep a little life alive everyday
Even if one does not attain oneness with divinity
Even if one does not fly at the crest of a lightning
One has to weave patterns
Like a weaver who works fast
With ease on his loom
One should walk without a fall
Till one realises the secret personality
That is entangled in the secret layers of life
One has to cross any number of deaths
Till one squeezes juice out of life
Converting into two drops of ink
To place a poem after a poem
Even if the eyelids are tired and are about to close in sleep
Even if the body is withered and the throat is dry
One has to hold on to a poem’s foot
And think he is travelling in time
But should not be under the illusion that it is death
One should shine forever
Like the morning Sun
That emerges out of billion darknesses
One should not bury one’s life
Like an owl in a cave
One should emerge time and again
Like a fructified seed
That comes out as a sprout form the earth
*****
Telugu Original :‘Molaka’
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.