When The Time Comes

Sarita Tiwari

Poet Sarita Tiwari

When the time comes
Weather
Will also sing new songs,
Leaves too
Will change their being.

Even the brooding clouds
Will start bursting

Lifeless river
Will too start flowing
Carrying with it
The melody of life.

Even an embryo
Smaller than a droplet
Goes through metamorphosis.

But when the time has not come,
Even the butterfly is crawling
Upon leaves, leaving behind
Vile sticky liquids.

Where does a flower bloom, where
Does the sun rise
When the time has not come ?

For sure! Difficult ...
Is Time’s delivery.

But when the time comes,
Hills will appear as plains—
Up-surging torrents of rivers
Will appear as bosom’s beat—
The stars of the sky will be
Felt like flowers of the garden.

When the time comes,
Dry up
Will the sweats on the forehead,
Calm down
Will the gnashing jaws, and settle down
For good
The easy sleep of
Repose in the eyes.

But where comes the time
Out of void ?
It demands my eyes.
Demands my heart.
Demands soles, arms
And a healthy mechanism of thoughts.
And I’m in need
Of a beautiful time
For sacrificing all these things !

Translated by: Haris Adhikari
Courtesy: Sangam, (Contemporary Nepali Poetry in Translation)

Sarita Tiwari, a poet, writer and social activist, was born in Pokhara. She holds an MA and an LLB from Tribhuvan University. She has authored three books of poetry, namely, Buddha ra Lavaharu (2000), Astitwako Ghosahnapatra (2010) and Prashnaharuko Karakhana (2016).