Black Rose & Existence (Poetry)

Amrita Pritam (31.8.1919-31-10-2005) perhaps the most well known of the remarkable woman writers in all Indian languages Essentially a poet, she has over five dozen books to her credit, many of which are novels and collections of short stories. She was one of the first recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Panjabi, which she won for Sunehre, a collection of poems. She use to edit and publish a monthly magazine in Panjabi, Nagmani. She visited a number of foreign countries. Her works have been translated into a number of Indian and foreign languages.

Charles Brasch a New Zealander, (27.7.1909-27-5-1973) well known as a poet in his own country, where he edited until 1966 the literary quarterly Landfall which he started In 1947. He was educated in New Zealand and England, has worked in England and Egypt, travelled widely in Europe and the Near East, and visited USSR and USA. On his second visit to India towards the end of 1964, he worked with Amrita Pritam making these English versions of her poems.

We made these versions as follows. I do not know Panjabi, and Amrita Pritam translated each poem for me literally, line by line. I then reshaped the lines gradually, reading successive versions over to her to make sure I had neither misread her meaning nor lost it. Where literal translation seemed impossible, she would read the poem and explain it while I made notes, afterwards turning the notes into lines as close to hers as I could get. I made further revisions later, always referring them to her, until I felt I could do no more.

**Contents and Sample Pages**