Dedication

Bharat Majhi

Translated by Sailen Routray

Rabandhara Reservoir, near Bhawanipatna, Kalahandi
https://commons.wikimedia.org/Debasish Rout 

May every end not come as a sigh.
May the dawns be free
from dark, ominous clouds.

Every peace does not need a war.
Every sea does not need rivers.

May every act of creation be a challenge,
and may the beak and the voice of every bird be filled.
May every wave throw back some sweetness,
and the bite of every thorn be 
a surrender of flowers.

May every drop of tear nurture our faith,
and every kiss warm our apprehensions.
May the self-destruction 
of each dejection 
remind us 
that we are men.

Note: The poet, Bharat Majhi (born in 1972 in Kalahandi), works in an Odia language media house in Bhubaneswar. He has published nine volumes of poems in a poetic career spanning more than three decades. Amongst other recognitions, he has won the Bhubaneswar Book Fair Award in 2008 and the Sanskriti Award in 2004.