The Green Spider Poem by Pradip Saikia

That hides away in my cotton pockets
Sucking blood of emptiness
In whose eight wonderful legs golden anklets tinkle
In whose twinkling of diamond-like eyes
I am mesmerized
The fiery hunger in its tongue

It is my shadow - the illusive companion
A green spider beyond my reach

As the sun sets like a home bound steed
It ventures out like an old citizen in a morning stroll
With dancing steps on its eight legs
And a deceptive smiling countenance

It commences its journey
When the pre-dawn breeze taps the tips of the slumbering trees

My slender fingers are crushed between its sharp teeth

Sucking at the bloodstream
It nibbles away all the pages of my epic

Whose moments erodes drop by drop
Like a melting candle
What a wonder
Its companion in a secret pouch
A green spider
Of another era

# Translated from Assamese to English by: Bibekananda Chowdhury