By Pushpa Raj Paudel
A little dove sat on my window this morning,
Chocked by lockdown, like my mind’s burning,
Behind my confinement she asked for reason,
Although outdoors was a pleasant season.
Unhappy she was though lovely was nature,
Finding no humans besides all creatures,
No child was climbing mulberry boughs,
As humans were shut-in, dreadful looked the roads.
She told me to forsake the greed I hold
To caress all creatures and with pity behold
Reminded my duty and of humankind,
Perpetual peace we find as honest and kind.
No time to recollect, as busy we are
Passion to collect has turned us misers
Untouched is the dove by jobs mundane,
Narrowing I thought, behind the pane.
Beauty fades, we know; knowledge obsoletes
What a worthy lesson the bird has shared!
Power, pelf and beauty are mere guests,
Reminding me this, she flew to her nest.
[Pushpa Raj Paudel is currently an MPhil (English) student at the Nepal Open University and a freelance writer. He has a collection of hundreds of unpublished poems both in English and Nepali languages, and is a good translator. He teaches at Sainik Awasiya Mahavidhyalaya, a high-secondary school, run by Nepal Army Welfare Fund in Bhaktapur.]