Amar Giri
I learnt from you
to share pleasure and pain
I had never known
pleasure increases
and pain decreases
on sharing
One should never coat one’s
countenance with nectar
while filling the mind with poison
This life is for once and all
and will never come again
I learned from you
there is no space for hypocrisy in one’s life.
What is pain like?
What is the value of smile
that emanates from sorrows
what is the power of courage like
that comes from the state of extreme poverty?
I learnt from you how
to remain hopeful
amid hopelessness.
I learnt from you how
to smile openly or to weep bitterly
among the friends or
somewhere in isolation
whenever I feel likely
There is no meaning of
deceiving oneself in life.
I learnt from you
how is it to experience
pleasure amid promises and dreams
that never die out
but emerge luminously all the more
amid innumerable wounds
made by struggle –
the struggle against oppression.
In life there is no meaning of running away
getting scared.
I learnt more from your great life
than from any great book
I learnt many things
my Butenwa
I never knew
at some point of time
one can learn so many things
from an ordinary laborer.
Translated by Govinda Raj Bhattarai
Poet Amar Giri is a progressive poet, who writes the common people’s concerns and resists the spells of capitalistic and aristocratic interpellation in the common people’s life. Born on 11 July 1960 in Dang District of Nepal, poet Giri entered writing in 1973. His first work to be published is “Aama” a poem that appeared in Sandesh in 1974. Since then, he has continued to write poems and critical essays and research works. His published books include Ghaam Chhekne Pahad (The Hill that Obstructs the Sun), Tara Pani Hami Jeebit Chhou (Yet, We Are Alive) Duhsadhya Samaya (Uncomfortable Times) and Samaya Samvad (Negotiation with Time) all being collections of poems. His critical works include Samaya Samaj ra Sanskriti (Time, Society and Culture), Samakalin Nepali Kavitako Baicharik Pariprekshya (Ideological Dimensions of Contempoary Nepali Poetry), Bhoomandalikaran ra Sahitya (Globalization and Literature). Former chief of the Department of Poetry at Nepal Academy and Chair of Nepal Film Development Board, Poet Giri is a recipient of Krishnamani Literary Award, Lokendra Literary Award, National Talent Award, Tara Pant Literary Award, Padmanabh-Tilkumari Rana Literary Talent Award, Felicitated by Press Chautari, Dang. He lives in Kathmandu with his family.