1. 2.
                                                               Illustrated by Than Htay Maung
 
What a surprise!
The most cheerful tiding hit me
In the most cheerless hour of life.   
 
I should have been there on the shoulder of the road.
I should have been waving them my welcome.
They haven’t heeded the void of my existence.  
They have returned.
 
With the zeal of a possessed clairvoyant, 
A lane into the future has been rebuilt.
Their strength glitters into gold. 
They harden into diamonds,  
As my chaotic heart is being clamped.  
Now I will douse my clay laughter in my tears.
I will turn it into fragile earthenware.  
I will color it with hope.  What else could I do?  
Why do I bother? 
 
What they do every day, 
I don’t do it once in a lifetime.  
I call it ‘the gap…’ between us.  
So, they are the saints, who have 
Walked through multilayered walls.  
I am the sinner imprisoned in the outer space, 
Burning in my own ignoramus fire.
 
Here is my tour de force;  
The anxious wait I’ve been waiting 
After I dialed that number,  
The sum of the math figures I despise.
 
From the other side of the universe 
Like lint that floats in the air 
A charm flows into the tiny steel wire
The knife that has cut a chunk out of my chest commands, 
‘Come back home.’
 
Blood oozes out of my wound.
I sponge it up.
I don’t want to be left bleeding to die.
 
Whatever form I may take 
I need to keep my blood flowing 
So I can keep making attempts…
 
Everyone heads for the last line
Before I get there,
I wish I could dash into the home one more time
To fill their lane with my little pebbles.
To plant cobra’s saffrons in my earthenware.
 
http://www.warscapes.com/poetry/wound
May 2012
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1 Response
  1. Sint Si Says:

    I love English version better. Which one is original?