Amarjit Chandan
Amarjit Chandan (b. 1946, Nairobi) has published five
collections of poetry and two books of essays in Punjabi
notably Jarhān (poems) and Phailsufiān and Nishāni
(essays). He has edited and translated about 30 anthologies
of Indian and world poetry and fiction by, among others,
Brecht, Neruda, Ritsos, Hikmet, Cardenal and John Berger
in Punjabi. He was one of ten British poets selected
by Andrew Motion, the Poet Laureate, on National Poetry
Day in 2001 and participated in the International Alderburgh
Poetry Festival the same year. Sonata for Four
Hands. Collection of poems. Arc Publications.
Due in 2009. At present working on a British Library
Sound Archive Project Between Two Worlds: Non-Anglophone
Poets in England: Readings and Histories.
Author photo © Diwan Manna
Untitled
Such munificence is your touch
Even in memories I come out of nothingness
I’m walking up the hill in the snowstorm
You are with me
Our sight covers a vast expanse of landscape
My freezing reluctant hand finds warmth
in
your coat pocket
You’re embarrassed and your arm becomes stiff
We talk interminably
but
our thoughts are there in the pocket
Our hands sitting back to back
Then God knows who touched whom first
Our fingertips felt a strange shock
Hands came out abruptly like scared birds
bursting
out of a cage
We are walking up the hill in the snowstorm
Our minds are still in the pocket
Such munificence is your touch
Even in memories I come out of nothingness
Translated from the original in Punjab
by the author with Stephen Watts
Tomorrow
After seeing Theo Angelopoulos’ film Eternity
and a Day
Tomorrow is eternity and a day.
Tomorrow will last longer
followed
by a white night.
Tomorrow is the long kiss.
Tomorrow is what is not present.
Tomorrow is the dream we’ll share
in
the present moment of time.
Tomorrow is the flower about to blossom
not
to be seen by anyone.
Tomorrow is the day when all the clocks will break.
Whatever is to happen is Tomorrow.
Tomorrow is death.
Tomorrow is life.
Translated from the original in
Punjab by the author
Chandan by his five-year old son Sukant. 1983
© 2008
Salt Publishing Limited 
