translation: Sarthak Karki
It’s getting colder everyday
And I do not have any warm clothes
To get through this cold
But the fire
It gives me its clothes during the cold
The fire gives me its warmth
It is true that the fire also gives me its bright-
ness
But during the cold months of winter
I find its warmth dearer than its light
One can always earn the light later
Should one survive the cold.
Indeed, should life be preserved now
It is always possible to even rise up against the
cold later.
translation: Mahesh Paudyal
I removed
All attires of lust.
As long as I wore them,
I happened to be in nothing but illusions
Destined to move round and round
Having lost my way out of strange restlessness.
What I am looking for is love
The unfathomable depth of bliss
And the summit of happiness and satisfaction.
Those saw nothing but the surface
Noticed me naked
They are yet to reckon:
The word ‘naked’ disappears
Before one advances into the world of love.
translation: Mahesh Paudyal
The traditional words in my possession
Did not work at all…
I shall now eke works from the mantras of
hymns
I shall pick them from temple bells
And from the sound of conches blown during
worships.
A parrot can predict a man’s future
I shall take words from its chirps
And shall take them from the blessings and
experiences
Of the old people left behind at the edge of
time
Even as I stand staring
Delinquencies rise high to make a high hill
When conscience started leaving
The fountain of humility in people’s hearts died
out.
I have to write poems to replenish compassion
in people’s hearts.
Bhisma Upreti is a Nepali poet, essayist and
novelist living in Kathmandu.
