The Sky Does Not End

Saroj Mohanty

Translated by Sailen Routray

 

A Male Palestine Sunbird (Cinnyris osea osea)
Location - Dana Biosphere Reserve, Jordan
Photo Credit - Wikimedia Commons

Those who stayed back on the road,

after having found patches of shade,

I have sent them news,

that I am still on the road, 

walking.

 

For this whole stretch,

I have not extended my hand for anyone;

when I have met people,

I have never asked them about the path.

 

Our horoscopes stretch 

on the bloody palm of the hunter.

I have forgotten the faces

of those who used to say,

that our true skeletons 

lie in the dark caves of dejection's mountains.

 

My feet walk towards my heart:

it has birds 

whose wings have caught fire;

it has boats 

whose sails have caught the storm.

 

Can one climb the hills

without having stored 

the roar of the tiger in one’s heart?

can one dive into the river

without roasting one’s body 

in the green fire of the leaves?

 

I meet only myself;

in every lane,

in every turn,

with new faces.

 

It is now that I know:

if one keeps on walking

then roads never end;

even if one kills the wasp in the galipot,

the demon does not die.

 

It is now that I know,

that darkness never ends.

But, no matter where one goes

there is a crowd of stars;

where the forests end there are rivers;

and where the rivers empty,

there is the sea.