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Standing beside the Crematory

By Harihar Timalsina

When, in all suddenness
You started loathing
I started reckoning the power of my love

Same is the path we tread
And the soil where our lives flourish is the same too
Your estate borders mine
There are moments when my calf messes up with your strewn-grains
And your kid munches my flower saplings
Sometimes, water from my well quenches your thirst
And sometimes, flour from your canister
Makes my pair of meals.

We learnt the hues of life
Seeing the same rainbow
And our youthful days perked
Feeding on corns from the same girdle-pack

Same were the letters we learnt: you and I
And mugged up, seeing each other
The alphabets of love
How then did the flames of contempt
Suddenly besiege your countenance?
How did you manage to conceal all these years
The volcano of hatred inside the mask of love?

You perhaps think:
The fire from your wrath
Has murdered my love
And you are thus seeking
For a cremation ground to bury love.
Are you aware or not:
Love never dies
If you ever think love has really exhausted
Think it is spreading even more

What if everything else on earth perishes!
Love shall prevail as eternal
For, love is another name of God.

Even those who deny the existence of God
Shall have no suspicious
On the existence of love.

Trans: Mahesh Paudyal

[Harihar Timilsina (b. 1971) is a Nepalese poet and lyricist of high repute. Born in a village called Sudal, in Bhaktapur, his major publications include Hiunko Laaz (lyrical poems), Chocolateko Rookh (stories for children), Koko Hamra Sathi (lyrical poems for children), Oho Katro Pharsi (lyrical poems for children), Mayurko Pwankh Harayo (stories for children) and Gaun Harayeko Sanjh (poems). Harihar achieved second position in writing the new national anthem of Nepal. His latest song ‘Gojima Daam Chhaina’ has been viewed by more than a billion people on Youtube.]

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