Chandra Gurung’s poetry translated by Mahesh Paudyal
My Father’s Face
Two eyes glitter like the sun and the moon
In that face
A kite of self-confidence keeps flying
Beautiful orchids and rhododendrons bloom
Combating the storms of calamities
.
On that face
A sun rises every morning to carry the burden of a new day
And returns, at the end of the day
Hiding every line of sorrows
Carrying little parcels of joy
Making the house and the patio bright
.
On that face
Narrow are the eyes that read the world
Pug is the nose that looms with raised self-respect
Wrinkled are the cheeks where joys and sorrows glide
Chapped are the lips, where smiles stage a march-past
And the entire Mongol identity has been smouldered by heat.
.
But I am delightful
Happy beyond telling
When everyone says:
“You look exactly like your father.”
.
Trust
Since you are back
Take those roses on the table
And kindly adorn them in the hearts.
Let the fragrance of love waft from it.
.
Bring out on the veranda
A pair of chairs;
Let’s spend some intimate moments.
Also place a bottle of wine, and two glasses
On the table;
We shall spend
Some moments of life, talking.
.
Look!
My weary rags
My books, pen and paper abandoned like an orphan
The stubs of cigarette littered like unclaimed corpses
And the scratched mirror—
All await for a single touch
From you.
.
This dark evening
You showed up at my doorstep all alone.
At this moment
Every nook of my heart
Is filled with love, ripple by ripple.
.
Leave it!
Let that window remain open at least
It reflects my heartfelt belief
That you would certainly turn up.
.
Desert: A Life of Mirage
There is not a single bright line of smile
On the broad canvas of the face
No butterfly of joy flutters on the cheeks
Desolate is this desert
Like a garden where all beauty has wilted.
.
There are dry tufts, devoid of life, everywhere
Dry hands of wind come to caress youth
The eyes accumulate dead excitement
And looms a mound of desolation
.
The youthful sun comes to face, eye-to-eye, all day long
The wind teases again and again
The desert longs to allure a traveler with its youth
Dreams of enchanting someone with its gestures
The desert is like a bride’s dream
Living in anticipation of a loving embrace.
.
Its breasts are decked by green date palms
A youthful cactus is tucked on its ears
And the desert stands in a long caravan of desires
Like a life of mirage
.
All is well
Everything is fine.
Just now,
My children in immaculate uniform
Have been taken to school
By a house-boy their age
.
My parents are happy in an old-age home
I am off from the pack of my siblings
My better half spends time watching TV serials
My home has hosted peace pervasively
From this, we can perceive that
All is well.
.
Since a prayer room in the home accommodates
A bunch of deities
It has been long that praying has been a rare tale
Doesn’t it mean
Everything is fine?
.
Nothing ever tortures my heart
I don’t meddle in others’ affairs
And keep myself away from such trifling hassles
And thus, do not bother myself in vain
It’s true:
Everything is fine.
.
I keep my own ways
Act amiably with all
And keep myself away from problems
For this reason
Everything is fine.
.
I carefully maintain my looks
Dress up myself decently
And follow healthy dietary habits
In fact,
Is everything really fine?
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All these poems are excerpted from Chandra Gurung’s upcoming book, My Father’s Face, with the author’s permission
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Chandra Gurung is a Bahrain based Nepali poet. He has an anthology of poetry to his credit. That was published in 2007. The second anthology of his translated poems titled My Father’s Face will be published from Rubric Publishing, New Delhi. He has passion for translation as well. He has translated Hindi, English and Arabic poets into Nepali. He has also has translated some of the Nepali poets into Hindi. His works (poems and articles) have found space in many online and print magazines including More of my beautiful Bahrain, Snow Jewel, Collection of Poetry and Prose complied by Robin Barratt (UK), Warscapes.com and many leading Dailies in Nepal.
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Mahesh Paudyal is a Nepalese writer, translator critic and Assistant Professor of English at Tribhuvan University. His works basically foreground local epistemic traditions and Eastern mythological richness. He has published novels, stories, poems, plays and songs both for adults and children and has extensively written critical works. His major translations include Sheikh Mujiboor Rahman’s Unfinished Memoirs and Prison Notes into Nepali, Silver Cascades, a collection of Nepali short stories and Dancing Soul of Mount Everest, representative modern Nepali poems. He is the Executive Editor of Roopantaran, a translation-based journal of Nepal Academy.
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