The Blind Boy - Sagara Palansuriya

They say, flowers are gorgeous and are of lovely shades

The things they speak of as they can see

I don’t understand, mother, so here I am to learn

Please explain to me, I don’t know these

Except the sweet fragrance of flowers, what is meant by a ‘colour’?

Nevertheless, I can also realize that the petals are delicate

Is there something called a ‘light’?

Mother, why is it that I can’t make sense of these?

I feel the heat during the day more than at night

Is there more of a difference than what I feel?

I can’t figure it out, because, they say, I am still a young boy

If so, I ask grievously, will I understand as I grow up?

I can always feel the pleasing softness of the petals

Whenever I caress them with the tips of my fingers

Yet, if there is really a ‘colour’ in flowers as they say

I am much worried that I can’t touch it with my hands

I have never enjoyed the thing that they call ‘beauty’

Neither with my nose and ears nor with my tongue and limbs

I wonder why I can’t perceive it even when you try to describe

Oh mother, I am so sad that it is too hard to tolerate

Mother, why are you shedding tears?

I can feel them trickling down my arm

Don’t cry, mother, don’t cry, I was just joking

Shall I rush and come back after hitting the boys who lied to me?

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Sagara Palansuriya (1908-1961) Sri Lanka

Translated by Indunil Madhusankha

Source: Sri Lanka poems