~Birat Anupam~
Trans : Suman Pokharel
When I was a child, I used to
kite the birds,
row the clouds,
hover along riverside in search of its breath,
and, play hide and seek with the fishes.
I used to teach the newborn calf of Koili[1] cow
to say ‘Aama[2]’,
that was me, who taught crow and eagle
to play thief and police.
The tree of my courtyard still waves its leaf
whenever wind visits,
by imitating my habit of waving hand
while playing TaraBaji Lailai[3] and
seeing off my uncle.
By imitating my deeds of revolving around
together with the oxen during ‘daain[4]’,
the earth had started to revolve around the Sun
of which, I knew only after joining my school.
That was also me, who whispered to sky
to be stubborn on not getting the desired things.
When I was a child
sky too used to take care of me.
after sprinkling over trees, saplings and mud
the sky used to bring an eternal pencil for me
up to the stream near our valley to let me draw
an exact picture of bride-Nature.
Despite having desperate desire
to keep that beautiful seven-colored pencil,
I could not take it, as my mother had taught
not to take anything from anyone for free,
for, that was a sin.
Meanings:
[1] Koili- Name of a cow
[2] Aama – Mother
[3] TaraBaji Lailai- A childhood game
[4] daain – indigenous process of graining of crops by getting folk of oxen tied together revolve around a pole with stalks having grains spread around it.
(Source : Asian signature – Focus, 4th Vol, No2 (April 2017) )
