Desire is the translation of Sawarnjit Savi’s poems included in his Punjabi book
Dehi Naad, translated into English by Ajmer Rode.  Besides being a poet Savi is also one of the well known Punjabi painters. This second edition of Desire (Chetna parkashan, 2012) is adorned with several black and white figures. Amarjit Singh Grewal writes in his preface to Desire

“Sawarnjit Savi’s collection of poems is a witness to the fact that Punjabi poetry is transcending the tradition of modernist realism and is making forays into the post-modernist paradigm. The book strongly refutes the notion that poetry is a transparent medium meant to put the reader in touch with outwards realities in their concrete form…”

“Desire by Swarnjit Savi is a long poem in which the human frame takes to full blooded psychosomatic expression in its exploration of the spatial and temporal universe – Jaspal Singh (Dr.)

First Poem

Whatever you are:
body form formless
man, house, toy god,
dust, ruin, earth, sky,
word, time, line,
Whatever you are
bird, sun, redness,
morning-evening
joy-sorrow
flight-drive
Whatever you are
move, darkness, brightness
delicate-solid…
Whatever you are
you’re an image
entering my eyes
taking shape in my mind
And whatever I am
I am an image
formed woven grown
out of you.