IF THE WORLD CHANGES

I am not convinced yet  
that everything would go wrong  
if the world changes.  

Even when  
the houses are changed into shops  
a distrait shopkeeper would surely be there  
to stare at the gamesome sparrows in the foliage.  

There would still be someone  
to hum a forlorn tune to himself  
and yet another to run out into the open  
to soak himself in the rains.  

I am not sure yet that the people  
would all go dusty if the world changes itself.  
The begging hand of a man  
has been the same all through the ages.  
People of bowing heads have been retaining  
the same postures all along.  
The burdened spine, the leaking eyes  
and the faces small with disgrace  
haven't ever changed a shade.  

If ever all the people get cankered down  
a few others would still be there  
and you would discover they aren't any more the beings  
they have very subtly  
changed themselves into the snipping sorrows  
the unalterable sorrows of this world.  
  

Translation :
Shyama Prasad Choudhury