Boddhisattva Poem by Devesh Path Sariya

'Holding her hands in mine, I simply thought
The world should be as beautiful and warm as her hands'
- Kedarnath Singh

In Taipei that afternoon,  
as I watched you sing on stage 
wearing that white dress,
I was transported back to the stoopas of Ladakh.

Out of all the hands I have held,
yours was undoubtedly the softest.
If *Kedar had ever held your hand,
he would have wished for the world
to be as tender as your hands.

How could anyone ever let go of that hand?

But your visa could not be extended,
and now you must go back home
to a country they call the most powerful.
Yet your heart remains on this small island.

Attachment is a human weakness
and does not befit the powerful.
But the poet within you reigns supreme over wisdom.

Go!
Though no color will ever vanish
from the spectrum of my life,
white will undoubtedly become a little duller.

From this day forward, neither of us will ever become
a *Bodhisattva.'


*Kedarnath Singh was a prominent Hindi poet. His poem 'Haath' has been used here for translation from page 41 of the book 'Pratinidhi Kavitayein (Editor: Parmanand Srivastava) Edition: 1985. Publisher: Rajkamal Prakashan.

*Boddhisatva is a person who is able to reach nirvana but delays doing so through compassion for suffering beings.

(Translation from Hindi by Shivam Tomar)