Sea of Pain, Chilean poet Raul Zurita's ode to the Syrian refugees killed in the Mediterranean, gets a new Hindi translation of it this year.
Raul ZuritaRenowned Chilean poet Raul Zurita opened the Kochi Biennale this year with an ode to the Syrian refugees killed in the Mediterranean, Sea of Pain. This month, a new Hindi translation of his poems (1979-2016) is out under the same title.
Q. When did you first encounter the sea?
I was six. The immensity of the waves crashing in the sea, to me it was a metaphor for the intensity of human feelings. My sister was scared but I was happy.
Q. Why did you write Sea of Pain?
I was pained by the fate of the Syrian refugee children. The sea had become their tomb. You saw the bodies on the shore and I recreated the sea on the stage when it throws up the bodies.
Q. How do you see India?
I first came to India in 2004 for the Kolkata Book Festival. It is a fascinating country. From a boat, I saw the sunrise in Benares.
The cremations were something that had amazing strength, almost an act of purification. Maybe there is no explicit reference to India in my poems but there are many images from here.
Q. Any specific influences?
At 25, I stumbled upon the Mahabharata and I love the unresolved character of the boy who was thrown in the river. In the final conflict, he forgets the spell. He goes down the chariot and the arrow chops his head. I like him. He knew the fate that awaited him. It is like Achilles in Homer's Iliad.
Q. What is the power of poetry?
Poetry is like the hand that plunges into you and saves you. Poetry has no powers. It cannot change the state of society. It can't stop the armies. But without poetry, there is no hope.
Q. What is love?
It is the most important thing in the world.