This Evening

Hoard in heart holding the ears of this storm
That, like a tormenter, entered the garden
To rob it of its beauty
Some bright day
We can talk about this dark time.

Don’t allow an easy fall
To the tears falling from your eyes
Let some dust of rage rise from the floor
Where the drops fall
Let dissatisfaction take a few steps
Let some hands rise in dissent.

My friend, adorn in the canvas of your heart
The beautiful image of a smile
That drifted to the fringe of a cheek.
In the sky of time, some day-
This bird of smile can flap its wings of desire
And take a flight of freedom.

Instill new breaths into the songs
Those declared dead while singing the melodies of life
Erect anew the dream castles left devastated
Allow the trees to repose; it is tired of combating storms
Do not stop the sun atop a hill
Tomorrow a new morn can be ushered in again

Feet returning from distant trips
Are stepping into the homesteads to ward off their fatigue
The birds moving towards their nests
Shall touch a new horizon again
At weary hours of life
We can hold a dialogue with this darkness
Hanging tube light from the lamppost of our hearts.

This evening
Count joys, big and small; add and subtract them
Calculate your joys and sorrows
Let currents of hope emanate, brushing aside the bruises of life
Let a seedling of courage germinate

A wave of excitement ripple
….this is how one should be living

Poet and Poetry

The poet was working on a new poem.
In it,
There was the sky
The rain
The flowers
The butterflies
The clouds
And many others.

To the rain that breaks down
Every now and then
The poet showed the seamless firmament
At which the rain started crooning a sweet song
In an enrapturing voice.

The poet relayed the drizzling song of the rain
To the despondent flowers;
The flowers started swaying gaily.

The poet borrowed colors from the flowers
And sprinkled them all over a butterfly;
The butterfly started fluttering all around
In its spry flight

The poet filled the clouds
With the tantalizing flutter of the butterflies;
The clouds set out on a free flight

The poet hung the dappled clouds
Down the roof of the sky;
The sky looked spectacular

Thus, the poet has joined
The sky and the rain
The rain and the flowers
The flowers and the butterfly
The butterfly and the clouds
And the clouds and the sky
In the same way
The poet permeated love among many.

Peace

And thus
A terrible war started.

A tender hope that had just started toddling was killed
Many youthful aspirations were trampled and wiped out
Old faiths crumbled and died
But nothing changed.

In fact, nothing changed
The prickly plants of jealousy and hatred continued to sprout
The high walls of discrimination continued to loom
The disgraceful sword continued to glisten
As enmity shamelessly grinned from a cavern in the heart

One day
She came…
New buds sprouted in desolate hearts
Kites of excitement flew in the disrupted sky again
The light of faith spread
All around
And life smiled once again.

About The Book

Chandra Gurung is a Bahrain based Nepali poet. He has an anthology of poetry to his credit. That was published in 2007. He has passion for translations as well and have translated many of the Hindi, English and Arabic poets in Nepali. His second poetry collection titled “My Father’s Face” is coming from Rubric Publishing, New Delhi.

His works (poems and articles) have found space in many online and print magazines including More of my beautiful Bahrain, Snow Jewel (USA), Collection of Poetry and Prose complied by Robin Barratt (UK), Warscapes.com.
He has attended the First Dhaka Translation Festival-2018 in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.