#chautal

Ulara

At last, this world is a sham, a dream, a lie: wealth, family, greatness, riches, kinship, fame— all illusory.

None of it is yours.

Published in 1916, Lalbihari Sharma’s collection of folksongs Holi Songs of Demerara is the only known literary work to be written by one of the thousands of East Indians indentured to work the sugarcane fields in Guyana. Translated by Rajiv Mohabir, the recipient of a 2015 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant.

Read the rest of the poems here.