The Country Lane
K. Padmakumar *
The country lane met a field
The grazing ground of domestic cattle of the village.
I saw movement in the tops of the trees
As if fanned by a light breeze
But I did not feel cold.
It did not smell in there
Though the place was covered with litter.
Nobody was seen returning home from the fields.
There was no human sound of calling each other
And not even a bird was seen flying swiftly past.
One day I overheard my relatives saying,
'This our child was almost dead.'
I did not think about it seriously
When I was a child.
When the road ahead is at a stone's throw
And the road behind is long
Sometimes at quiet moments of life
I do see the country lane
And I begin to think if that be
The path towards Hades taken by the dead.
(Translated from his late father's
Manipuri poem Lambi by K. Radhakumar)
* Poem written by K. Padmakumar which was published at Hueiyen Lanpao (English Edition)
This poem was posted on September 25, 2014.
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