The Sky

Sailen Routray

Paining titled: 'Composition VIII (The Cow)'
Painter: Theo van Doesburg (1883–1931) 
Photo credit; Wikimedia Commons

I keep on climbing 

step upon step upon step

on the ladder. 

No matter how much I climb

the sky lies far far above.

But did I at all want

to climb the ladder?

My desire 

was to touch the sky.

If nothing else,

then to reach so close to the sky

that I could stare at its eyes

and see my own reflection

in its pupils.

But that couldn't happen.

I thought I would 

climb down from the ladder

and digging a tunnel in the earth

would get out at its other end

and look for the magician 

who would put me on a rope

and send me up 

to the house of the sky. 

But when I take a few steps down

I find I do not have the strength 

to reach the ground. 

And for sure, I do not have 

the years left that are needed

to come down and touch the earth. 

The ladder is crowded. 

On the ladder, at its bottom, 

and underneath it,

there are people thronging. 

I sit down on a step

and try to catch my breath.

I hold the hands of the people

who sit besides me;

on both the sides. 

I am afraid

I might fall down.

When I close my eyes

and look at myself

then I see on my own forehead

a vast sky. 

Note: An Odia version of this poem was first published in the weekly Sunday literature page of the Odia newspaper 'The Prameya'.