
Siddhi Charan Shrestha
It’s raining
and the wind howling.
Late evening thickens its grip;
the lamps have been lit
the meal is ready
Mom is shouting –
Daddy hasn’t come yet.
Time has changed,
the autocratic power-mongers have been dethroned,
the shackles have broken, they say
and yet, freedom hasn’t come.
Progress is still far away
and democracy farther.
Mom is shouting –
Daddy hasn’t come yet.
With the sling of our thought,
and with imagination’s bludgeon
the head of darkness has been dismantled
and yet, a new morn hasn’t dawned.
A new time is yet to come.
Mom is shouting –
Daddy hasn’t come yet.
[Translation of Shrestha’s Poem “Baa Aaunubhayeko Chhaina”, done by Mahesh Paudyal]