Poems of Aduri Satyavathi Devi
Poem-18
I Have No Death
Telugu Original: Aduri Satyavathi Devi
English Translation: J Bhagyalakshmi
Somehow I have to keep myself alive everyday
Even if I had not attained oneness with divinity
Even if I had not flown on the crest of any lightning
To keep my aim at the target
To give a fistful of happiness to life
The way a weaver weaves with ease
Skilfully on his loom
I should be accustomed
To stand in the battlefield
To keep thought and hope alive
To see life does not become a bloody ball
One has to take a new birth now and then
Like the sky that has shed its water
Like the piercing ray of the Sun
When it is time to shine
One has to come forward
Treading over the neck of death
Even when eyelids are tired
And closing for deep sleep
Even when the body is limp and drooping
One has to hold on to the feet of a poem
And think that one is moving with time
But should not mistake it as death
Having carried billions of dark nights
One should recognize the index of a moment’s rest
While placing the foot on a shining wing
One should not pitiably declare
That it is death
When there is no death for wind, water
All pervading beautiful soul and nature
There is no death for an ever-thirsty person
For the growing thirst for knowledge
That is filling the earth and the sky
And for me
There is no death until this nature itself faints.
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Telugu Original :‘Naaku Maranam Ledu’
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.