Sharada Sharma
Woman, the beginning of creation,
A creation herself, not a virtuous wife!
Cannot be contained within walls.
She who is nature entire!
She cannot be a mere spouse,
This beloved of loving ones;
She is the manifestation of power,
The cool resort of parental love.
She has wings of feelings
That fly in the sky
And endearing caresses of love
That seep into the heart.
She herself is her own wealth,
Her own mistress, she!
She cannot be tied down anywhere,
A cloud of freedom, she!
Translated by Padma Devkota
Sharada Sharma is a poet with melodious prosodic craftsmanship wherein she unveils her beauty-conscious self that has its bearings with the light and darkness of life. This unveiling establishes human values atop everything else. Poet Sharma was born in October 1958 in Syangja District of Nepal. She started writing around 1966, but her first published work was “Naharne Yuddha lai Mero Badhai” (I Congratulate the Invincible War), published in Pooja in 1982. Her published works include Seemanta Anubhooti (Extreme Sensations, poems), Yuddhoparant (After the War, poems), Swarnasutra, (Golden Rules, pomes), Aasthako Bhagnawasesh (Ruins of Faith, a collection of stories), B.P. Koiralaka Naaripatra: Drishtikon ra Aakangshya (BP Koirala’s Women Characters: Perspectives and Expectations, criticism), Agnisparsha (A Touch of Fire, a collection of free write-ups), Taap (Burning, novel), Bhuin Phulko Deshma (In the Country of the Ground Flowers, novel), Kampa (novel), etc. She has been honored with Kavidada Literary Honor. She lives in Kathmandu with her family.