Sundar Shireesh
Poet: Sundar Shireesh
My village
Is like a real village
And, therefore, has everything.
In this village
The cock’s crow wakes up before the morn
And the sun wakes up together with the cock’s crow
In the moment of rising the sun,
The dews begin to wipe off the tears of the village
And then dawns the concert of the birds.
When commence
The prayers in the temple, monastery and mosque in the village,
The river lights up the incense stick
And the haze covers the village up.
With the feet heavier than her trouble,
When the beloved comes out,
Carrying the grass-basket, namlo* and sickle
In order to find out life on the pages of labour soaked in sweat,
Then smiles the brae sweetly
And sings the songs of rosy recollections left behind by lovers
The waterfall whistles music similarly
Dances the grass alongside the melody of the sickle of the beloved.
My village
Is like a real village-
When, bearing the bag full of letters
Children set out to school,
Carrying the plough, yoke, spaddle and spade,
Godlike fathers climb down towards the basin,
And mothers more beautiful than the earth,
And thereafter are written
Twisting letters on the breast of earth by the plough
The seeds of colourful plans are sown,
By which will have to be bought tomorrow
The collection of alphabets of the lives of our offspring.
In order to inquire of the fineness and illness
The wind runs on
The life-giving-water falls down riding on the rainbow of serenity
The hill protects like the sal* tree
The sky embraces being the roof
The earth plucking up herself offers the smile bloomed on her lips.
My village
Is like a real village-
When the children come back from school,
The parents from the basin,
The beloved comes back adorning plaits with rhododendron,
The kinsman from abroad,
Thereafter, smiling sweetly,
The sun goes down towards the river riding on the aircraft.
How colourful it is!
How helpful it is!
How cordial it is!
And how self-respected my village is!
My village
Is like a real village-
But I have a sorry-feeling –
When will this country be like my village?
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* Sal is the tree scientifically named shorea robusta.
* Namlo is a carrying rope attached with a band used by the rural people.
