Poem by Chandra Gurung

Hunger and an Impotent State
 
Many days have elapsed
Since any meal was cooked in the old pot
That lies upside-down in a corner of the room
Like a barren womb
It has not been able to conceive a new fetus.
 
For many days now
No prospect has squirmed
In the empty cereal pouch flung into a corner in the room
Like a scrotum devoid of sperms
Unable to engender a new life.
 
For many days
The flames haven’t played with other flames
In the cold fireplace in a corner
Like a cold bed
That hasn’t become an amorous playground.
 
And
That old pot
That empty pouch
And that cold fireplace
Are all together mocking
At the impotent government
That’s helpless like a starved man.

Chandra Gurung, from the Himalayan country Nepal, writes poems in the Nepali language, and also translates poems of Arabic, Indian and English poets to Nepali. His first poetry collection was published in 2007.
 

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