KESHAB SIGDEL (Nepal)
I was looking at the mountain
And tracking the trail to climb its top
To jump off the mountain
And commit suicide.
The mountain too saw me
But unaware of my intentions
Unexpectedly, the mountain said:
I am tired of the sublimity of my height
Please conquer me, and unburden me from my anguish.
Then I feared the isolation, the exilic existence of the mountain
And walked away from it.
I went to the storm
And waited for the moment
To hurl myself in the whirlpool of its wild dance
And annihilate myself.
The storm too saw me
Unaware of my intentions
The storm said:
I am tired of the ferocity of my own motion
Rein over me, and release me from this suffering.
I feared the unpredictable aggression, a howling existence of the storm
And walked away from it.
Then I went to the fire
To the rock
To the wilderness
They all had their own agonies.
Then I stopped to look at myself—Then I stopped to look at myself—
And the soul finally smiled.
Bio
Keshab Sigdel (1979) is an acclaimed Nepali poet, editor, academic and rights activist. Besides poetry, he also writes fiction, literary essays and plays. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Poetry Planetariat, a global poetry magazine published by World Poetry Movement. He is the recipient of the Bhanubhakta Gold Medal (Culture Ministry of Nepal, 2014), Rock Pebbles Literature Award (India, 2018) and many such.
