Rehaan Khan
Come on; take me away.
Launch my funeral right away.
I long to free myself
From all the earthly desires and vices here
And make myself altogether free;
I want to live again
Albeit at the cost of my existing life
Come on; take me away.
Launch my funeral right away.
Let my eyelids close
Let my breaths come to a halt
Let my soul
Escape the bonds of my body.
Since my babyhood days
I have been quite fond of playing in the soil.
Allow me to get buried in the same soil
For ever now.
Come on; take me away.
Launch my funeral right away.
I won’t stay pensive as I do now
Innumerable believers shall be with me;
I won’t be left to bear the unimaginable pain
For, thousands of angels will befriend me
There, I shall not ask my master
To tell me about this world
Nor shall I make any complaint
Rather,
I shall pray for you from there
For, I have heard:
The wishes of the dead ones
Are immediately granted.
I shall remember you from there
For, I have heard
That it has been a habit, on our part
To remember
After death
Or, after getting afar.
Just do one thing for me:
Before my corpse is covered in a shroud
Allow my hands to remain empty
I have heard, those who depart
Go empty-hand.
Come on; take me away.
Launch my funeral right away.
Trans: Mahesh Paudyal
[Rehaan Khan (b. 1999) is a poet from Sarlahi District of Nepal, presently living in Kathmandu and pursuing his study. His poems and have appeared in several periodicals and an anthology, Ujyaloka Maliharu, a collection of poems by eleven poets. He writes in the Nepali, Bajjika, Hindi and English languages.]