A Flash of Insight
K. Padmakumar *
One day I came here climbing down
A ladder of gold
And blessed with the colours of the rainbow
From the realms of gold.
It was a thousand and one suns that shone
In the sky of the mind.
Not looking alike in appearance each day
I saw him at the hilltop,
Met him in the woods too;
Sometimes, he burst through the clouds
All of a sudden.
He looked very fresh
And always very young.
I believe your energy
Resided in the depths of your soul
And the flower of this birth
Bloomed in your rays.
I believe one day I would see
The world made anew
By a clear light,
Not seen since my birth;
All the greeneries around
Made bright and lively
With heads turning and fluttering
In the noiseless gentle breeze.
I was carried away
Leading the way by an unseen one
And taking the hint from an unknown one;
Nobody was seen,
There was not one iota of misery
In my heart.
Here it began
Here it ended –
There was no consciousness of time.
Beyond the clutches of time
The soul looked for its destination
With no inhibition.
The world was defined
In the light of
The seen fraction of the unseen whole
And the realm of reason created.
Within the confines of time
I counted it on the fingers of one hand;
The evening of my life had set in
And I was surprised at the shadows.
This precious life
This real birth
All narrowed down to zero
Through the dry logic of reason.
All these amusing anecdotes
Of this brief life
And which I would be unable to experience again
Well, these were the hings to be taken along
Like basic foodstuffs at the time
About to embark on a long voyage.
The moment of sadness
When I was able to know
I was finally dead,
The pleasure of knowing
A reality, a certainty
This was hidden
Insight the secret womb of creation
For a blessed few.
(This is an English translation of a Manipuri poem 'Mitkup Amatang Uruba' by the poet's son - K Radhakumar)
* Poem written by K. Padmakumar ; Translated by K Radhakumar which was published at Hueiyen Lanpao
This poem was posted on March 17, 2015.
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