Earlier this year, on my Twitter timeline, I came across this remarkable painting from the year 1891, titled “The Doctor”, by Sir Luke Fildes, currently kept on display at the Tate Gallery, London. It was a moving painting, and the first thoughts that occurred to me were about how a poet would interpret it. With that in mind, I requested Dr. Chandana Sri to let her thoughts flow on this one, and sure enough, what came about was a beautiful moving poem. Later on, I ended up translating it to Kannada too. Those two poems are featured below:
The poem Dr. Chandana wrote with that painting as the subject:
For the want of but one meagre cot
On a makeshift bed of rags and chairs
Motionless she lies, the tiny tot
'neath the table-lamp's lopsided gaze
Hearing not her mommy's muffled cries
Smelling not the porridge in the urns
Seeing not her daddy's watchful eyes
Crestfallen and stoic all at once
Like her pillow- squalid, limp and pale
Holding out to him, her little wrist
A rapid feeble pulse, a plea so frail
He daren't fail this time! He must persist!
This is my translation of the above poem to Kannada:
ನಿಟ್ಟುಬಡತನದೊಳಗೆ ಮಂಚವೊಂದಿರದಿರಲು
ಕಟ್ಟಿ ಪೀಠಗಳೆರಡ ಹಳೆಯ ಬಟ್ಟೆಯ ಹಾಸೆ
ಪುಟ್ಟ ಕಂದಮ್ಮಳವಳೊರಗಿಹಳು ಕದಲದೆಯೆ
ಸೊಟ್ಟತಲೆ ಸೊಡರು ತಾ ಬೆಳಕು ಮೂಡಿಸಿರೆ
ಉಮ್ಮಳಿಸಿ ತಡೆಹಿಡಿದ ಅಮ್ಮನಳು ಕೇಳದೆಯೆ
ಘಮ್ಮೆನಿಸುವಂಬಲಿಯ ಸೊಗಡನಾಘ್ರಾಣಿಸದೆ
ಬಿಮ್ಮೆನಿಸಿಯೂ ಮನವ ಕಲ್ಲನಾಗಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು
ಸುಮ್ಮನಿಹ ಅಪ್ಪನವಲೋಕನವ ಗಮನಿಸದೆ
ಕಳೆಗುಂದಿ ಸೊರಗಿರ್ದು ತನ್ನ ದಿಂಬಿನ ಪರಿಯೆ
ಬಳುಕಿ ಚಾಚಿಹಳವಳ ಪುಟ್ಟ ಕೈಯನು ಹೊರಗೆ
ಅಳವುಗುಂದಿದ ಮಿಡಿತ ಬಲವಿರದ ಕೋರಿಕೆಯು
ಸೆಳೆಯಲವ ದೃಢನಿರಲಿ, ಸೋಲಿಗಾಸ್ಪದವಿಲ್ಲ!
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