(This Latest Version 18.12.2014)

Even though a sheet of paper, a tiger it must be all the same
Should I remove away its fetters? Or, is it better to make it tame?

I've finally figured out now, what's the nature of the offence
Compared to the mighty rapiers, sharper it seems are the pens.

In this static, densely filled up, bereft of moisture, total darkness
Rhythms when they lend their hands to let us light up our torches 
Fear-provoking, more than this state, nothing ever can exist
A boundary therefore I have drawn up keeping myself inside it.

Tell me why then concealed tigers --  nonetheless here on and oft
Keep on roaming even today? Go away you, go get lost.

Even though a sheet of paper, a tiger it must be all the same 
Won't be wise to remove its fetters, better instead to make it tame.

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Translation of a Bengali poem বাঘ (bagh, meaning Tiger) by Sankha Ghosh. The poem was written towards the end of the 21 months Emergency Period (1975-77) declared in India by the Indira Gandhi Government. It was not published in any previous collection of Sankha Ghosh’s poems and is appended to the Complete Works (Volume 1) as a part of a new collection entitled বন্ধুরা যখন তরজা করে (meaning When Friends Engage in Extempore Song Tournaments). Sankha Ghosh’s complete poems was published of the poet published in two volumes by Dey’s Publishing around 1993.