Kundan Sharma
Oops! A road never ends
one follows the other
and one crisscrosses the other.
The roads, and this doom to keep going
are perhaps accursed from somewhere.
What a mind,
never satiating!
My spent legs that drag along ask,
where to, further?
This exhaustion
has extended to the entire body
and yet, why can’t I stop?
A reality it is ours, that on a road edge some day,
we are destined to fall in the final exhaustion!
But the road might extend further,
without an end…
No, why didn’t I learn to end?
I had extended the ken
far and wide to seek
my own destination
why did I continue forward,
though it was of no avail?
Why did I? Why?
after all, why?
A road never ends
one joins the other…
And I never pause,
though spent to the core
always proceeding towards a graver exhaustion.
I know, I shall end
somewhere on the endless road.
And to the obligation of this trip,
I shall always try to impart a worth
by making it my home, my town and the world.
Rendering the new one old
I proceed towards the newer.
How can I tell
that my trip is worthless?
I is to seek ‘worth’ that I am moving
worth of this empty heart
of the predicaments to keep walking,
of life, intrigued by
the binaries of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ —
two conflicting realities.
I am propelled forward by every ‘why’
I am no longer there,
where I started
and shall not be there
where I am now.
‘Why’ ends with ‘forward’
and every ‘forward’ engenders a ‘why’
My attempt to keep walking ever
cannot wind a road up.
I keep walking, all the time
defeated from the self.
A single demarcation
could not keep me confined.
When did I ever comply
to remain bound?
A road, after all, never ends;
One crisscrosses the other.
I built a road,
to keep walking; always to head for a newer one
but, why is there a new stile
in front of every step I take?
Why am I halted
and explanations sought from myself
about my lot to keep going?
About my heart that is gradually running out?
And about this comical life?
Translated by Mahesh Paudyal
[An influential woman signature in Nepali verses, Kundan Sharma has penned poems that are the documents of fine human feelings with feministic view. She was born in October 1944 in Birgunj. At the national level, her first published works was a poem titled “Sadakai Sadakma” published in Kabita in the year 2021. Her published works include poetry collections Mera Kavitaharu (My Poems), Yo Mann (This Mind)and Euti Chhoriko Katha (The Story of a Daughter). ]