Death Caves

Som Nath Ghimire

Whether I gallop or stagger
To destinations—distant or near
Whether I chase sunshine or shadows
Whether my eyes are full of dreams or tears
Whether I am among the foothills or peaks
Whether my heart and lips are full of bliss songs or melancholy tunes
Death, the eternal death will, one day, seize my steps
Will burst my eyes!
Will bury my dreams!
And break my flute!
My songs will scatter in letters
No generation can gather  
Oh! Painful
I will be gone forever!
How miserable my fate will be
I will not hear the screams of life
Nor my fingers can hold godly flute
They will break my eardrums!
They will break my hands!
And they will plunge me into the incalculable darkness of dooms!
I will be imprisoned forever,
I will have to suffer
My nerves will stop
The lights will be lost!
And I will neither see, nor hear
Your sacred calls
 
How miserable my fate will be
Can you hear, my friend?
They are coming!
A scene, how miserable I will be in
And my memory will fail
There will be conversions!
There will be conversions!
Each flame will converse me into ancient rock
Yes, at the same time
There will be a big crowd in the theater!
Of tears!
Laughter!
From thousands corners of memory
Of Relationship
Of Enmity
Friends and Foes will gather
The play will be staged
Of Victory!
Defeat and Dedication
Of Pride, Sensation and Graves!
There will be unmatched applause behind the scenes!
Characters in the theater will never get tired
Unless their fate meets ugly graves!
Unless they find eternal death caves!

[Som Nath Ghimire is an MA in English from the Central Department of English, TU]