~Bhupeen~
Translated from Nepali by Manu Manjil
how does a parliament smell differently
from the way a crematorium does?
what difference really is there
in the cold blood of a court
of law and that of a butcher’s?
just outside their walls stand
poetry
in the pristine garb of honesty.
today I so strongly long to
turn it into a thing ugly.
come, my dear poets
let’s declare poetry dead today.
and let’s see how much
more alive will it look
sitting upon its own corpse.
let’s see
how mad
will the gun go about the end of imagination
to what distance
will the tyrant’s laughter reach,
and how crestfallen can art be?
great times are still to come
when beautiful verses shall be written.
for today’s shake, I opt to write
the ugliest of poetry
ever written.
and exactly the way the guns writes
the poetry of violence
on the chest of martyrs.
how long, how long should poetry
stay beautiful and alone.
(Source : Global Literature in Libraries Initiative (GLLI) website)
