Chumadutangi by Lakshmi Devi
( Translation from Malayalam)
The Burden Bearer:
Here, in front of the inn
Meant for wayfarers-
On this Burden Bearer Stone,
Let me heave the bundle carried
By my weakening body till
Now.
The shoulder bone has
The greatest capacity to bear
Burden, it seems;
And Destiny again shoves
Unbearable weight onto
That today.
For a moment, I ponder
What it is that I carry, stumbling
Struggling onward,
Wrapped within the bundle.
Old sins, virtues
Or both equally divided?
Unknown it remains,
The Fate has filled up my bundle
For me to bear unquestiongly.
There is a bright lamp within,
The fragrance of camphor
As my dreams get enflamed,
The pains unabated, stirred deep
Leaving an oily drop beneath
The forbidden is inside, and the
Whiplashes for those mistakes
Committed unwittingly
The drops of tears which flowed
The red of a fresh wound
A Sun of a baby smile
The chirp of a bird, the breeze
In a shade so green…
I can no longer keep
My load on the stone
It is getting late.
Closing the inn’s door
The watchman too has
Hastened away.
The lonely road that stretches
Long, calls me quietly-
Walk on, until
You fall, losing
Your footing.
Darkness all around me-
Yet I can listen to those
Who are ahead of me:
‘ Move without fear!
Beyond the sooty darkness
Of this tunnel,
There might yet be light.’
***
In the olden days, Kings used to construct inns for wayfarers and also stones for bearing burdens. Without anyone’s help, the heavy load on the villager’s shoulder could be heaved onto the heft of these stones.
Today, I watched again a classic Malayalam movie called, Amritangamaya.
It is a line from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad…From death to eternal life ( Mrityoma Amritamgamaya).
In the movie, one character was reiterating that the human shoulder bone is the strongest- designed to carry the Holy Cross of one’s life burden.
Flipping casually through an old vernacular magazine, I ended up opening the poem page where the sentence was repeated for me.
And then, I picked up a crayon, and a pen. These help in shouldering responsibilities with grace. Truly Burden bearers.
***
