Tirtha Shrestha
Fragranceless, not plastic though
O you Lahure1 flower!
At the moment as I remember my husband
mutilated in a war, I can hardly think of a letter
bound by a cotton thread2, and
my husband’s lifelong earning- a pension
reeking of corpse on which my life leans heavily
Facing the door of this shelter where
a poor widow like me lives
how you bloom so shamelessly
O Lahure flower!
No more opening old wounds, no more salt to injury3
My whole life has been a wound for long
For long it has been a pain
let me take a brief respite, o Lahure flower!
Turning the folds of wound I want
to change the history of treaty4
by easing the gapes of wound I want
to stop this blood-trafficking,
tear this black page of history and throw away
Wait, o Lahure flower
I want to change your name.
- Lahure gives double meanings: the common garden flower dahila, and those who join mercenary armies outside Nepal. The poet exploits both meanings very artistically in this text.
- An envelope (letter) tied with ‘cotton thread’ symbolizes the message of someone’s death somewhere away from home.
- The word ‘Lahure’ itself is shocking to the widow; it always reminds her of her husband mutilated in war.
- The Treaty of Sugauli 1816, or similar treaties that force Nepal for conscription to foreign army.
Translated by Govinda Raj Bhattarai
One of the proponents of the Taralta (Fluidity) Movement in Nepali poetry, poet Tirtha Shrestha, in his poems, presents sparks of life engendered by the encounters of existential conflicts. Born on 2 November 1959, Shrestha started writing in 1967. His first published work was a poem “Prajatantra” published in Phewatal in 1972. His published works are Tirth Shrqesthaka Kavtitaharu, Jindagiko Kurukshetra (Collection of poems), Mahabharatka Geetharu (Collection of muktaks), Pailaka Neembharule (Collection of poems; photos, co-authored) and Dharsaidharsako Chakravyuha (A Labyrinth of Strokes). He has received National Talent Award and Yuva Varsha Moti Award. He lives with his family in Pokhara.