Himanshu Choudhary
I am enclosed within the walls of thoughts
My hands and feet have been maimed
I can neither write
Nor move
Even then you say I am free.
Lips mine, speech yours
Eyes mine, sight yours
Language mine, thought yours
Even then you say I am free.
Purity is impure
The seer is in opposition
Hope is like a rag-mat
Who are friends and who are foes
When faith has been a joke ?
Who will understand the warmth of the inner self ?
The soil is turned barren in such a confusion
Even then you say I am free.
Even though I am cornered
The flower of victory of the new era is blooming
My will power for reconstruction
Has been beaten down for ages
Hearing the stories of the native and the foreign lands
The throne (seated on the angry lion)
Seems to be belonging to the hangman
Though you call me unfortunate
Yet you consider yourself free
He who didn’t visualize darkness
Would never visualize light
You have enclosed me within utter darkness
Even then you say I am free.
[Translated from Maithili into English by Ayodhyanath Choudhary]