Poems of Aduri Satyavathi Devi
Poem-24
The Song of a Cataract
Telugu Original: Aduri Satyavathi Devi
English Translation: NS Murthy
When I start piling up words
I lose my being and identity.
Like a cloud drifting with the wind, I know,
Yet, I show off my ego and status.
When that man assumes silence,
He has bottled up the fire of frustration,
His insults and the swelling emotions.
He carries the burden of life with great endurance
Ready to sprout in compassion.
The amphibious I,
Like the frog in a well,
Climbs step by step
Gathering each of you one by one.
He thaws his silence in pieces,
Aiming sharply at his life
On the window of ambitions.
Harvesting his looks as sun’s rays,
He turns his thoughts into fruition.
He, who crawled at my feet till the other day,
Now rises suddenly and flutters like a flag
On the victory stand.
His songs of freedom
Fill earth and heaven,
And he rolls like a cataract
Right across the hearts of the people.
Time unveils him as a seat of learning,
And I bury myself as a blade of grass… somewhere.
*****
Telugu Original :‘Jalapaata Geetaavishkaranam’
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.