Bollywood Confabulation

(a collage poem of famous lines translated from
Bollywood movies: Pakeezah, Sholay, Mughal-e-
Azam, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, and Kabhi Kabhi)

Look at your feet, so beautiful. Do

not step on the ground, filth will smear them;

your future will fill with pricks. He with a

fearful heart, understand dead. Death will dance

on your head — lift your eyes and see. I am

its servant, thirsty from birth; you my jewels

my raiments. I redden my part, adorn

myself for my beloved, terrified

of evil-eye so with black kohl I streak

my waterline. Petals shrivel but thorns

keep sharp. Love brings ruin and ruins lives.

Your lips’ tremor is morning; when you let

loose your tresses, midnight. What place has fear

if a bloom’s barbs do not dread withering?