The Awakening
K. Padmakumar *
How long have I been sleeping
Dreaming a series of dreams
All disconnected!
All alone I was standing on a steep slope
So high it was
The people far below
My friends of road
Looked very small.
The hill track was narrow
And slowly I climbed up
The meanderings of the path
To reach the virgin hilltop of life.
I did not bother even for a day
That if I wandered off like a child learning its first steps
I could stumble and lose my footing
And fall flat on the gorge.
Through the darkling vast water
Full of the sound of waves and wavelets lapping
All alone I was rowing in a small boat
To reach the destination without any fear.
Lord! Today I was woken up
To my tiny place in the cosmos.
Not knowing my full potential
Not knowing myself from Adam
But riding a small chariot I thought
The charioteer I was and also the one taking the ride
And I face head-on the challenges of life;
I was trying to lift and free the wheels of pride
And I could not score even a bullseye in the process
My chariot! Good old chariot!
It had started to sink into the earth
And the bright and shining sun
Had also started sinking in the western horizon;
Deep down the sound of the conch was heard
To disengage oneself from the battlefield of life.
(Translated from K Padmakumar's Manipuri poem Mitkap Thokpa by his son K Radhakumar.)
* Poem written by K. Padmakumar ; Translated by K Radhakumar which was published at Hueiyen Lanpao
This poem was posted on August 24, 2015.
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