O MOUNTAINEER, ARE YOU NOT SAD?

By Prafulladatta Goswami

(Rendered by the Author from Assamese)

O MOUNTAINEER, are you not sad?–

does not the sough of the pines make you lone?–

does not the keen wind wailing make you mad for the lost one–

mad for the things slipt throughout your fingers

when they would fain have ossified over them

with the craving for possession?

Do not the waters hurtling down the gorges

remind you of the blood your heart has drained,

and the rills the tears you have shed?

The mountain is high,

and the while you trudge alone on the peak,

won’t the abyss of desolation swallow you up?

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