Little coins of sunshine (Translation of poem by Prasoon Joshi)

Poem: Dhoop Ke Sikke by Prasoon Joshi
The original lyrics are here

His own rendering at the Jaipur Literature festival is here

-
English translation

Little coins of sunshine

Let her toss little coins of sunshine, let her sing a song
Let her juggle purple marbles on her teeny little hand
Let her stay innocent; innocent as she should
Let life flow in rhythm, I say, as life indeed should!
---
When the bomb was a child, he used to catch butterflies
Steal mangoes he did, fought over fallen kites
If you ripped off his flying thread, he didn’t utter a word
A little angry perhaps, he was, but still happy somehow
But you stole his childhood, you did; in deceit and guile
Look at his eyes, can’t you see? He’s been sulking for a while
Let his heart play in the glittering glow of fireflies
Let him put his heart, please! In whatever he tries.


Let her toss little coins of sunshine, let her sing a song
Let her juggle purple marbles on her teeny little hand
Let her stay innocent, as indeed she should
Let life flow in rhythm, I say as life indeed should!

----
We make her drape the veil, a little too soon, we do
We take night too soon to day, I say, I say, we do
She used to cling to her mother’s saree, in those little folds
What do we want to tell her now, by leaving her so alone!
What do we want to say then, in our strange, odd ways
Let them wake us up from our slumber -- on to a new day
--
Let her toss little coins of sunshine, let her sing a song
Let her juggle purple marbles on her teeny little hand
Let her stay innocent; innocent as she should
Let life flow in rhythm, I say, as life indeed should

- Translation by N. Madhavan