Photo credits: negativespaces.co

Marathi poems translated by Late Shri Vishnu Khare.

EN ROUTE
 

On my way
Somebody or the other
Walks by my side
And on the entire road so many

At the very same time 
Nearly a hundred thousand in the town
Keep me company as I walk
And millions in many places on the earth

Ants insects creatures large and small
All walk with me

Even if I stopped
They would keep walking

Assuming
That I still walk with them

Surely
I too believe that

BEHIND THE BACKDROP OF ALL THESE VOICES

Here from each street
passes decrepit old age on walking sticks
every step punctuated by the muffled tip-tap
 

By each wayside sit the terminally-ill
whose groans and moans hit the ears incessantly
from every lane passes a funeral procession
the departed bid a farewell
and atmosphere echoes with lamentation

Imposing structures rise here
New towers of luxury come up
Dance and song is incessant

The reverberations of these voices
Din in ears
And the leaves of the pipal* tree
Standing on the earth
Rustle

But even from the very far-off
In the backdrop of these sounds
Is not heard
The voice of someone becoming a Buddha

(*Pipal tree: Ficus tree)