An Anthology of Contemporary Nepali Poetry



Ammaraj Joshi



Design of Death



A forlorn China cup squatted on a hotel lawn
Containing gradually dissolving sugar in leftover tea
Into which the morning sun peeped
And ants rushed to, climbed up, then descended. 

Trying to leave behind the lesser mob of the clan
Bossy ones touched the milky pool
Knowing not how they had hurried
To attend the invitation of their own greed.

Into the sticky, indifferent swamp they failed to see
Greed's grip setting a trap to tempt them
Towards food seducing for long life
From fronts where death lurked behind.

Desire of ants to continue was strong
But stronger was the design of death. 





Shared Passions



Bridled cows ramble round
the green pasture,
look for the green grass,
and quench their hunger.

White cranes
cautiously move around the cows,
look for the body lice,
feed on them,
and satiate their hunger.

Grass feeds on soil
Cows feed on grass
Lice feed on cows
Cranes feed on lice
All thus share the passion to live.

Desire to live unites
green grass,
bridled cows,
white brutes of the air,
And the scarcely visible lice. 

A cow in grass 
A lice in cow
A crane in lice
All again in the soil.