On and on and on and on, it cries its siren-call It calls to me to come to it like I am its máte-of-soul Upon that tree, within this lush has come a single koel , Honey-filled, it drips and drips - all eyes desire it Īnd somehow in this very yard a mango tree is seen īeneath the tree’s a den of snakes - a seven-hooded serpent’s in. Jackfruit-like, to the atthi ‘s base, is stuck a fruit that’s red, The aala drips its drops of milk and the peepul shakes its stem.
Out there the nectar-vine has spread and climbed the tree of neem, Within that clump cry mammal-bats in the middle of the day,įlocks of pigeons fly in and out and in and out away We see ten bushes in a clump upon a little height. Spreading here and spreading there, encróaching kāḷamma’ s site Īnd when we clímb the tamarind at the centre of this site Past all of this come caves and hills rising to the right, The moss removed black waters cáll into the dark beyond. Lies such a lush of thickened-moss it seems like kama ’s vest’sīeen spread luxuriously across the surface of the pond Past that place, and past the graves, and beyond to the left The way is lost and if, once lost, you énter unknowing,Ī stricken pair of owls appear, hootíng through the mid-morning. Where the running stream ducks under and rogue cattle go grazing, It can be found below the translation.Īt the edge of town where the three-fork ends and where the slope begins, Nota Bene: Please don’t miss reading the “Afterword”.
I think it would be best if you listened to both recitations. The rhythm of the Kannada version is taken from the recording by B.R Chaya for the album Mayakinnari. The other is of my reciting the English translation. One is of my reciting (singing) the Kannada poem. In Bendre’s own words, “The poem ‘ಜೋಗಿ (Jogi)’ has sprung from the enchantment of Dharwad’s environs as well as from the terrible, doubt-ridden turmoil that comes from experiencing a dark night of the soul.”īelow are two audio pieces. Consequently, the translation reads best when recited out loud. In this translation, I have tried to recreate the rhyme and rhythm of the original. (It was hailed in 1999 as the “ಶತಮಾನದ ಕವಿತೆ” or the poem of the 20th century.) Attracted almost immediately by its music, it was only later that I learnt of the poem’s special place in both Bendre’s poetry and Kannada literature. Like with so many of Bendre’s poems, I listened to Jogi (ಜೋಗಿ) sung - in an abridged form - before I read it.