Hindi original: alvida kehne ki koshish mein
अलविदा कहने की कोशिश में
Poet: RAKESH (MISHRA) SUSHIL
English translation; S. Jayasrinivasa Rao
AN ATTEMPT AT BIDDING FAREWELL
The fog has hurled sunlight out of one’s memory
As I stepped out of my house, from sundry corners
I heard wailings of the old
In the street I found children’s torn sandals
Two little kids were walking with terrified steps
behind the world’s most helpless man
A woman who only knew how to write her name
was teaching her kids to scribble prayers on ether
Our hands and pockets were empty
To eat, we had old memories
To wear, sorrow, and
To cover ourselves, a hopeful sky
If someone were to ask, where are you going
I’ll answer, we’re going there where we’ll get rotis
That place has no name
Life has come to us like an accident
But our entire effort was
Not to turn our death into an odious farce
We can’t afford to get tired
We need to keep walking
with our ancestors’ names on our lips
till our last breath
We are not scared of death
Our biggest fear is that
we would lose our sense of wonder
The charm of the path that we have taken
lies in the fact that it is arduous
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