People

Like bricks

Like stones

Pile up together

Make families

Make societies.

 

Bricks

Stones

No matter

Together they may stay

Stay touching each other

Yet

Never become one

ʼCoz

They are not clay.

R Manandhar

Never

Do they dissolve

ʼCoz

They are not water.

 

Never

Do they merge

ʼCoz

They are not light.

 

Instead

Press each other

At times

Fight against each other

Collide with each other

And

Turn to pieces.

 

At other times

One pile fights against another

Until

Both end in dust.

Yet

They call it their bravery.

 

That is their history

That is their psychology

That is their sociology.

 

That is their future!

 

rajendramanandhar@hotmail.com

Translated from the Nepali language original by Simon Gautam, PhD (Comparative Literature)