mo bhaile néata ceithre horlaí faoi sé horlaí.
Thaitin an néatacht riamh liom. Tá na Himiléithe
ina leathorlach im' ghlac anois agam.
Sé seo is baile dom. Ní bheidh mé go deo
níos cóngaraí don bhaile. Nuair a fhillfidh mé,
ní bheidh na dathanna chomh niamhrach sin,
uiscí an Jhelum chomh glan,
chomh hultramairíneach. Mo ghrá
chomh rónochta.
Is beidh mo chuimhne
ábhairín as fócas, claonchló
ollmhór inti, dubh
is bán nár réalaíodh fós.
Agha Shahid Ali
Postcard from Kashmir
Kashmir shrinks into my mailbox,my home a neat four by six inches.
I always loved neatness. Now I hold
the half-inch Himalayas in my hand.
This is home. And this the closest
I’ll ever be to home. When I return,
the colors won’t be so brilliant,
the Jhelum’s waters so clean,
so ultramarine. My love
so overexposed.
And my memory will be a little
out of focus, in it
a giant negative, black
and white, still undeveloped
