Communicating with Nature

RRS

Sea, hills, vales and Himalayas. Yes, these signifiers of nature remind us of the lines of great romantic poems of Wordsworth and Coleridge. In 'Daffodils', Wordsworth meanders like a cloud:

Poet Bhisma Upreti

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills

Bhisma Upreti invokes similar spirit of romanticism in his 'Just As I Am', a collection of his new and selected poems that he composed relishing the beauty of nature. His heart beats as the waves break on the shore. He goes ecstatic when the breeze blows high above the hills. The caravan of mules on the trek of Himalayas impels him to ponder over the fate of the poor animals. Instantly, the poet's heart melts as he sees a band of porters following the trails of mules. Written in tranquility and melancholic setting, the translated poems provide a fresh look into the poetic genius of Bhisma, who have over a dozen of books on poetry and essay to his credit.

For the poet, sea, hills and Himalaya become the greater sources of enlightenment. He personifies sea in the following lines. He extols the splendour of sea in its nudity:

When I went to meet the sea,

I found her stark naked,

Sunbathing

The sea's nudity

Was unexpected but beautiful

Fitting and appealing.

(The Sea - Three)

Here the poet draws an analogy between the sea and human heart:

I am hurrying along

To meet the sea.

But the sea stopped me and said -

'I have seen a sea inside man,

Have you seen it too?'

I looked into my heart,

(Where I found a sea)

And for the first time I realized

That a sea exists in man -

Sea of salty tears,

Sea of unfathomable sorrow and bitterness

(The Sea - Four)

These lines portray a contrasting picture of modernity and backwardness. The hill folks erupt into euphoria when a tractor reaches their village for the first time. This is still a reality of many Nepalese hamlets tucked away in remote hills. The rustic masses hope that the tractor that ferries people and goods as well as plough the terraced hillside heralds the beginning of new civilization in their locality:

First time,

When a tractor reached the hill

The villagers were bursting with joy.

They assembled in the open air

And worshiped the tractor

With a new shoot of hope in the heart.

The villagers for days talked

Of the arrival of new possibility,

A new civilization.

(The Hills - Eight)

Here is another beautiful verse that revolves around the themes of mountains, hills and rivers. The hills are not happy with the ungrateful rivers that run away like a selfish lover:

 

The mountain has lot of snow,

The snow melts

And becomes rivers.

Thus the hills has rivers too

But those ungrateful rivers

Run far, far away

Through dark, narrow dells

And the hill contorts

Every single day

For want of water

(The Hills - Nine)

The poet sees no fundamental differences in the life between the mules and porters. Their agonies are well depicted in these lines:

A caravan of mules

Just went past this way

Stirring dust as lovely as longings

And now,

A band of weary porters

Is scaling the trail in the same way !

Both have pain

Piles on their shoulders;

Both have had no time for a bath;

Both are hungry and tired too.

Cold has been tickling both;

A foul odour fills the nostrils of both.

(Commonality)

The following short stanza taken from Just As I Am, which is also the title of the anthology, shows a sharp contrast with the optimistic and hilarious tone expressed in the previous poems. The dark sky and howling wind generate a depressing mood. It is further heightened when the clock of time swings frantically:

There is no light in the sky

The wind is howling.

Oh! there is no view of sun,

Not a fragment of blue sky.

Turbulent the world around

And the clock of time swings frantic

(Just As I Am)

Bhisma's poems open up new poetic avenues. As Dan Disney mentions in the introduction of the book, the entire text is filled with 'epiphanies and moments of truthfulness'. The poet communicates with the abstract nature and lends his mellifluous poetic language to innocent folks to bring forth their pains and sufferings. Simplicity and flow of language have made the poignant themes ever expressive. The anthology truly carries the typical national and cultural nuances to the wider readership.

(Courtesy: Friday Supplement, The Rising Nepal, January 30, 2015)