SHYAM RIMAL
Relief
Rice is infested,
stale and smelly
potatoes rotten,
piles of lentils creepy-crawly
and sacks of
salt out-of-date
without a glint
of iodine.
Relief comes
rolling on polished wheels
Relief comes
flying on airplanes
Black money
arrives disguised as social service
Relief comes
to take a snapshot with
just one sack of rice,
salt, lentils and sugar.
At that juncture
the government goes to sleep
and relief-seekers
rush back to the streets
to start banging
their empty begging bowls again.
To wait for disasters
to beg endlessly and
along the arrival
of pandemics and plagues
spread their homespun
blanket of helplessness --
all this seems amiss along
the lines of our nation’s glorious map.
This is what defines
true face of our nation
where the essence
of NGOs, INGOs
and Government agencies
mingles into one rotten core
wherein, one after
the other, the pandemic relief funds
are mounted up
a mighty threshold
to fuel festivities
in the house of higher gods
and elsewhere
enduring calamity
the cold hearths
continue to shiver
without a trace
of livid flames
warming fragile walls
of their hungry huts.
Translated
from the Nepali by Yuyutsu Sharma
Shyam
Rimal is a known
Nepali journalist and poet. He has published several books, most noted being, Trishuliko
Kinarabaat. He contributes literary columns to several vernacular
newspapers, including Drishti Weekly and works as editor at National New Agency,
Kathmandu.
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