Kunta Sharma
I am an insignificant drop
in the raging ocean of creation
let me disappear like a beautiful bubble
in her ripples and waves
or let me disappear in the vast stretches of sands
whether I exist or not
whether or not the ages will tell my stories
let human civilization keep smiling forever
let my earth live forever.
My age is dripping drop by drop
one day the store of time will go empty
it will be lifeless and dry
after the cold hands of death embrace
when the fever of life withers away
the time that follows, even in millions of centuries
trillions of it and in eons and eons too
let the lap of the earth not go empty
Even after my life mixes
in the dust of the panchabhuta, the five elements
if ever the soul remains alive
if it has any space beyond
if ever the soul still awakens me
even after I am divorced from this
I will never forget anything about this earth
if ever there is any relation of this earth
to any world beyond
The bosom of the earth in green dress
fresh and mild vernal breeze
the springs and lakes under blue deep autumnal sky
streams and rivulets, rivers, seas and oceans
dense and deep forests, cool places and moist damps
cool moon and bright sun
I will not forget anything
I will be getting suffocated
every minute, every moment
I will be looking at the fertile soil
at my desert earth
stretching those unseen hands for blessings
flowing the lights of words, speechlessly
may human civilization keep blossoming
may my earth remain living,
in whatever way did I live
gave a wild laughter
maybe, the life I lived was blessed
with a great moment of pleasure sometimes,
the time I lived must have pierced my heart
with its pointed needle
I must have cried , from intense pain,
due to its piercing in the time I lived
Though I could not build Mount Everest of my sacrifice
I did not dismantle anyone’s abode of happiness
set fire to anyone’s garden of ambition
whatever may it be
I am not worried about what the time was like
and in the manner it was spent
I have no worries, no repentance
wherever my feet fell in whatever way
whether breath of sighs were heard or the rain of my tears
I never laughed heartlessly
I did not live callously
whichever tenderness did creation itself
fill within me, whatever sensitivity
let it fill this ever in all human heart
let man not be heartless
let these wishes be fulfilled
let my earth continue to live.
Let this brilliant sun never grow old
let this earth be ever embraced
let these heartbeats come ever closer
let the mean meteors come closer
let the great havocs not be repeated,
and the stories of long ice ages,
terror of dreadful explosion
of the fertile and attractive planet earth
let this never be restless
never let it go dry.
The glorious and rich history for the generation
the great achievements of our ancestors
inherited for future generation that they earned
having travelled for eons waking up
from the deep slumber of barbarism
let this ambition flower,
let it remain safe
let my earth live forever.
Many souls like me have passed
have faded and dropped down in this immense creation
there is difference between my existence
and this body’s disappearance
in the creation that went on for eons
but those whoever created the history
at the expense of their sacrifice,
self-sacrifice and unworldly bravery
those who made this earth fertile and beautiful
those who made this society civilized and more beautiful
the streams of sweat and blood
that they dropped, never go dry
let the examples of courage and bravery
that they presented never fade away
let ever continue, let it go on forever
let the human being kiss the climax of success
let my earth live forever
Living is sweeter than any precious jewelry
when my conscience wanes
before I enter into the last oblivious sleep
before I am enfolded by the arms of Mahakal
I pray, folding my wrinkled palms together
even if in the misty conscience
like the time right before the hazy dawn
or the time of deep, early dusk
whether my footsteps are imprinted
on the store of time or not
when I start yellowing and fall off the tree of this creation
let new horizons of knowledge keep opening in this earth
that is moving around the universe
let the flowers of peace and love open up
let the human being remain ever happy
let my earth live forever.
Translated by Govinda Raj Bhattarai