Translation: Zimira Poran Zion (Hebrew Poetry)

Yoni Hammer-Kossoy

Any Moment You’ll Give Birth

1.

Any moment you’ll give birth.

Big round belly

pushes out from your body.

Can’t believe

this body in the mirror

is hers.

Every motion, 

Zmira Poran Zion

everything moves

like ground shifting

over deep wells,

like a powerful river.

Any moment you’ll give birth.

How will her body burst open?

Howcan thisbe?

Already a month she can’t sleep

her eyes wide open to heaven

as she listens to the life

moving inside.

Fear in the center

of the rooms

in her heart.

Any moment you’ll give birth.

2.

And on that morning

summer scent wrapped the garden

flower stamens fluttered,

buzzing and bird calls

crossed the cold morning air,

giant dahlias, red and orange

stretched their necks

and honey jasmine

deepened white yellow green

and climbed high to the roof,

while she ripened 

like a blushing peach.

3.

Any moment you’ll go

to a strange place you don’t know

where it will happen,

wearing a thin cotton dress

paintedwith shapes

of pomegranates and grapes

on white cloth.

Green-crowned shisham

and rosewood trees 

tangle in the air

with sun-kissed birds and bees.

The bag packed and ready to go

into the unknown.

4. 

And in one moment you’ll know there’s no way back,

that you’ll never again

be the woman you were.

What’s so deep inside her must go out.

Must.

And her body stormed and her panicked legsfailed

and a great flood washed down and they ran in the halls

the bones of her pelvis jammed and slid aside

the birth canal opened and a round head

pushed on her belly

with nothing to numb, 

she’s wide awake and seeing all.

You’ll remember forever 

the moment her son separated from her

and a mother was born.

She is the new here

with the world in her hands

a moment of soft grace

and amazement.

***

Sangeeta Gupta

किसी भी पल तुम जनोगी

1.

किसी भी पल तुम जनोगी।

गोल, उभरा हुआ पेट

शरीर से बाहर छलक आया है।

यक़ीन नहीं होता—

आईने में दिखती यह देह

क्या सच में उसी की है?

हर हलचल,हर स्पंदन

मानो धरती हिल रही हो

जैसे कोई उफनती नदी

गहरे कुओं के ऊपर से 

 गुज़र रही हो।

किसी भी पल तुम जनोगी।

कैसे फटेगा यह शरीर?

कैसे संभव है यह चमत्कार?

 महीने भर से नींद नहीं आई,

आंखें टंगी हैं आकाश पर,

सुन रही है अपने भीतर

धड़कती ज़िंदगी को।

डर पसरा है

कमरों  के केंद्र में 

उसके दिल में।

किसी भी पल तुम जनोगी।

और उस सुबह

और उस सुबह,

गर्मियों की ख़ुशबू में

लिपटा था बाग़,

फूलों के केसर कांप उठे,

भंवरों की गुनगुनाहट,

पंछियों की पुकार,

ठंडी हवा में तैर गई।

लाल-नारंगी डहलिया

गर्दन उठाए खड़े थे,

और मधु - सी चमेली

गहरी सफ़ेदी में घुलती,

पीली-हरी लहराती,

छत की ऊँचाइयों तक चढ़ गई।

और वह—

गुलाबी पड़ती एक आड़ू की तरह

धीरे-धीरे पक रही थी।

किसी भी पल तुम चल दोगी

किसी भी पल तुम चल दोगी

एक अनजान राह पर

न जाने कहां 

बस तन पर हल्की सूती पोशाक,

जिसकी उजली सिलवटों में

अनार और अंगूर के रंग खिले हैं

शीशम और सागौन के दरख़्त

अपनी हरी चादर ताने

हवा से उलझ रहे हैं

सूरज के चुम्बन से जगमगाते

पंछी, भंवरे मधुर गुंज से भरे

सामान बांध लिया है

सब तैयार है

बस एक कदम और 

अज्ञात बुलाने लगेगा।

और एक पल में जान  पाओगी

और एक पल में जान पाओगी 

वापस लौटने का कोई रास्ता नहीं

कि जो तुम थीं

वह अब कभी न होगी।

भीतर जो सबसे गहरा था  

उसे बाहर आना ही होगा

आना ही होगा

शरीर बिफरा,

टागें घबराई, कांपी,

एक बाढ़ उमड़ी,

सब बहा ले गई।

गलियारों में दौड़ते कदम,

हड्डियां अटकीं, खिसकीं,

जन्मद्वार खुला,

गोल सिर पेट से टकराया,

कोई राहत नहीं,

तुम पूरी तरह जगी हुई हो

सब देख रही 

वह  पल

सदा याद रहेगा

जब तुम्हारा बेटा 

तुमसे विलग हुआ

और 

एक माँ जन्मी

अब वह नई  है,

अपने हाथों में संसार लिए

एक पल

कोमल अनुग्रह और विस्मय का।

 अनुवाद: संगीता गुप्ता 

***

Fata Morgana

Oh my heart my heart

don’t ask me

to reveal the secret

of my desire for him

Oh my heart my heart

don’t ask

I was like a tower of urges

a mountain of waking dreams

flowing from yearnings

Oh my heart my heart

don’t answer

his body’s passion

took flight and landed

on the sandy shore 

of my life.

***

फ़ाता मोर्गाना

ओ मेरे दिल, मेरे दिल,

मुझ से 

वह राज़ खोलने को मत कह

जिसकी चाहत में मैं सुलगती हूँ

ओ मेरे दिल, मेरे दिल,

मत पूछ

मैं जैसे 

 मीनार थी इच्छाओं की

पहाड़  थी जागते ख्वाबों का 

एक तरसती बहती धारा

ओ मेरे दिल, मेरे दिल,

 कुछ मत  बोल 

 यूं लगा 

जैसे हवा में पंख फैला

उड़ान भर

उसके जिस्म की तड़प

उतर आई

मेरी ज़िंदगी के रेतीले तट पर।

अनुवाद: संगीता गुप्ता 

Dr. Zmira Poran Zion is a poet, playwright, artist, scholar, and activist. She is the author of two poetry collections, Forbidden to Write About Happiness and I Am Samar, published in Hebrew and English. Winner of the 2022 World Congress of Poets competition, and the 2022 Achy Prize for research, literature and art, her work appears in numerous international literary journals and anthologies. Mother of five, Dr. Zmira Poran Zion lives and creates in Yehud, Israel.

Yoni Hammer-Kossoy is a poet, translator, and educator. Yoni’s first poetry collection, “The Book of Noah” was published by Grayson Books in 2023, and his translations of Zmira Poran Zion’s collections, “I Am Samar” and “Forbidden to Write About Happiness” were published by Daisy Press in 2023 and 2024. The winner of the 2020 Andrea Moriah Prize in Poetry, Yoni’s poems, reviews, and translations appear in numerous international journals and anthologies. Originally from the US, he has lived in Jerusalem with his family since 1999.

Sangeeta Gupta is a Delhi based bilingual poet, writer, artist and filmmaker. Her achievements include 36 solo exhibitions of paintings, 35 published books, including 16 anthologies of poems in Hindi and 7 in English. 11 of her collection of poems are translated in German, Greek, Mandarin, Hungarian, English, Bangla, Dogri, Tamil and Urdu. She has directed, scripted, and filmed 36 documentaries; 6 are archived in the Library of Congress, US. Song of the Cosmos is her creative biography.

She was a highly commended poet of the year 2020 in the category of Faith-centred poetry by Destiny Poets, International Community of Poets(ICOP),Wakefield, UK. She was awarded a Doctor Of Literature honour by the 42nd World Congress of Poets (2023).

Her 36th solo exhibition of Textile paintings Aadiyogi Shiv a journey in cosmic indigo finds a place in Limca book of record (2020- 2022 edition)

This  exhibition has been a  travelling show and has now travelled to 17 destinations in India and abroad  in last two years.

This solo exhibition started from Bikaner House, Delhi in October 2022.

It has been exhibited at three leading Museums of India, Bihar Museum, Patna , Bharat Bhavan Museum, Bhopal and Salarjung Museum, Hyderabad. It has also been exhibited at National Institute of Fashion Technology Delhi, Mumbai, Gandhinagar and Patna. It has also been displayed at Pondicherry University, Baroda Fine Arts gallery, University of Baroda, India Pavilion, Bharat Bhavan, Auroville, Kalaneri gallery, Jaipur.Abroad at Indira Gandhi cultural centre, High Commission of India in Bangladesh,Dhaka and at Zainul gallery,Charukola, Dhaka University in 2023.Then at Nehru centre,High commission of India in UK in August 2024

This exhibition was part of the event to celebrate the Opening of the Honorary Consulate General of India in Kraków held at the Sheraton Grand Krakow, Poland in September 2024 by the Embassy of India in Poland.

And at the University of Rzeszow in Poland in September 2024.

Three of these paintings are acquired by the Museum of Sacred Art, Belgium and were part of a collaborative exhibition with National Gallery Of Modern Art at Delhi and then at NGMA, Mumbai for several months.

One of the works acquired by Bihar Museum has been on their permanent display and now travelling to Kazakhistan.

One of these works has also been acquired by Bharat Bhavan Museum, Bhopal.

She is an IRS officer 1984 batch, former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax.