Jivan Acharya
Buddha, you are; I am!
Between us a dark and deep distance exists
Like a tunnel since twenty-five years ago!
At this moment your immortality is meaningless;
The diseased Lumbini1 you ran away from afraid
Grows older, like a bo-tree2;
And, shaped like a cannon,
Ashokâs pillar3 is just a symbol!
At this time the infant Rahul4 that you left behind
Scared of his greatest foe, a father like you,
Lies trembling.
The corpses that you saw for the first time
Are as cold as the sleeping Vishnu on a rock.
Some sleep remains in Teharan, Vijayapur and Rangoon,
Sleep of a body old as the bodhi tree!
And, you are immortal,
I wonder how you are immortal.
Everything is as it was;
Death and Lumbini,
The corpse and your palace!
Struck with wonder I bow to you at Swayambhu5,
How is it that you are immortal?
- Birthplace of Gautam Buddha, situated in the western region of Nepal
- Same as the Bodhi Tree under which Buddha achieved enlightenment
- Ashok was a powerful monarch of India. He erected memorials to Buddha at Lumbini
- Son of Gautam Buddha
- A famous stupa of Buddha on the western fringe of Kathmandu city
Translated by Padma Devkota
Conscious to the movement of aesthetic happiness on realistic parameters, Jeevan Acharya a simultaneous user of brush and pen, has contributed to a paramount gallop in the field of modern Nepali poetry. For this reason, Acharya is a lexicon, a history, and a collective organization in himself. Poet Acharya was born on 2 April 1959 in Panchthar District of Nepal. He started writing in 1970. His published works include Antaheen Suruwat (An Endless Start) and, Jeevanka Dhunharu (Melodies of Life), two collection of poems. In his lifetime, he was honored with Vyathit Poetic Award and Doli Award. He died prematurely at the age of 29 on 5 May 1988.