Love - The English Translation of my first Gujarati Poem "Prem" ....

Love is not what the mind thinks,

But what the heart feels.

Love - English Translation of my first Gujarati Poem "Prem"

Soft, like the sprouting leaves,

Decorating the trees on arrival of Spring,

Steady, like the mountains facing severity

Of environment since time infinite,

So unfathomable, that ocean of oceans

Would shy away in awe,

Foundation of Creation – no one is

Ever unacquainted to it,

Such unique, tender, strong, profound, deep,

Is the feeling of Love !!

Experience it !! The tip of my pen

Cannot mould it into words !!

- Vanita Thakkar (16-09-2020)

Original Gujarati poem "Prem" : written on 17-09-1990.

I was inspired to translate and present this poem by the comment posted by Smt. Chitrangada Sharan on my previous poem - Love : A Silvery Song .... Thanks to Chitrangadaji.

This is the first time I translated my own Gujarati poem into English.

Original Gujarati And Translated Hindi Version Of The Poem ....

Gujarati and Hindi are Sanskrit based languages. They are close to each other. Even though Gujarati is my mother-tongue, it so happened that I learnt reading and writing Hindi first. And later, I learnt reading and writing Gujarati with the help of my knowledge of Hindi.

Translating from Gujarati to Hindi is much easier, as they have similar feel and temperament. I have translated most of my Gujarati poems into Hindi. This is the first time I translated my own Gujarati poem into English.

About four years back, I had translated the Gujarati version of more than 150 songs of the local tribal languages from South Gujarat region into Hindi and English - for a Cultural Mega Project by Prasar Bharati (Government of India). That was a great, unique experience.

© 2020 Vanita Thakkar