-- LAXMI PRASAD DEVKOTA
(Translation from the Nepali by Padma Devkota)
1
Night wept myriads of drops.
Taking these for grains, I pecked
and swallowed many of them.
I wiped the chest of the sky,
I lit the morning lamp.
2.
With the core heat of the stars aflame
I turned red,
like the tip of the flame.
I scared darkness with a single crow.
Turning to the east,
I lit up the horizon and spoke intensely.
The stain of darkness disappeared.
The thick fog cleared!
3.
Streaked with rose and red,
O wonderful!
Those are the swords of my thought
raised with the voice—
the smitten army of darkness,
its entire defeated wave.
4.
This my glorious victory crest,
the rim of morning’s canopy.
Lodged on this mound—
a mere rooster!
