A Blind Man on a Revolving Chair (Ghumne Mechmathi Andho Manche)

Dozing and regretting all day long,
like a withered bamboo lamenting its hollowness,
opening wounds all day long,
like a sick dove which pecks at its breast;

[5] Sita is the consort of Lord Rama, the princely incarnation of Vishnu, and the epitome of female chastity and fidelity.

[6] Bhimsen Thapa dominated Nepalese politics from about 1804 until 1837 and is given especial credit for building up the military strength and prestige of Nepal. See M. S. Jain (1972, 4-13).

[7] kalki is a flower or the plume on the Ranas" ceremonial helmet. The ambiguity is almost certainly intentional.

[8] Amarsingh Thapa was the commander in chief of the Nepalese army who pushed the borders of the kingdom westward as far as Kangra, in modern Himachal Pradesh, during the early nineteenth century.

[9] Sagarmatha is the Nepali name for Mount Everest.

[10] Because Lumbini, the birthplace of Shakyamuni, is now within the borders of modern Nepal, the Buddha is sometimes claimed to have been a Nepali.

[11] Arniko (1244-1306), a Newar craftsman, was taken to the court of Kubilai Khan by a powerful Tibetan lama in 1265. The khan was overwhelmed by Arniko's skills and assigned him a number of major projects, including the building of several famous temples.

By 1273, Arniko was the supervisor of all the craftsmen in China and was granted the hand of a descendant of the Sung royal family in marriage. Rossabi 1988: 171.

weeping softly all day long,
over sorrows which are unspoken,
like a pine forest in its solitude,
my feet are set in a tiny space,
sheltered by a mushroom umbrella,
far from the vastness of earth and sky.

In the evening,
when Nepal shrinks down to Kathmandu,
and Kathmandu shrinks to New Road,^[12] which breaks up, trampled by countless feet,
to newspapers, tea shops, paan shops,
various rumors come and go,
each in a different guise,
newspapers pass by, clucking like hens,
and here and there the darkness
climbs onto the sidewalk, terrified
by the headlights of the cars.

The hive in my brain collapses,
I stand up, alarmed
by stinging, buzzing bees beyond number;
I rise like a soul on Judgment Day,
but I do not find the Lethe,^[13] I river of oblivion,
so I slide down into some wine to forget
the past, my previous lives and deaths.

The sun always rises from the kettle,
and sets in an empty glass,
the earth I inhabit goes on turning,
I am the only one who cannot see
the changes all around me,
the only one who is unaware
of all this world's beauty and pleasure,
like a blind man at an exhibition,
forced to sit on a revolving chair.
(1961; from Sherchan [1969] 1984; also included in Adhunik Nepali Kavita 1971)

[12] Originally known as Juddha Sadak, one of the main commercial streets of Kathmandu which was reconstructed after the 1934 earthquake. New Road is a popular evening meeting-place for the young intellectuals of the city, who gather to buy newspapers and literary journals.

[13] A reference to Greek mythology. The Lethe river flowed through the underworld and those who drank from its waters forgot their past completely. Larousse ([1959] 1983, 165).