Now is the Season of Silence

Now, for some time again,

One has to remain in complete silence.

The tsunami that rose from the ripples

Of a single pebble thrown into the water—

Must now be faced.

Who knew that a strike from a crab,

Floating down with the rushing current,

Would dissolve and destroy

An age-old relationship?

Now, without forging any new bonds,

One has to remain in silence.

Sometimes, even the mirror lies,

And one’s own shadow commits a mistake

In all the mathematics of life.

Who knew that the newly planted trees

Would bear poisonous fruits so soon?

Now, swallowing all that venom,

One has to become Nilakantha (Lord Shiva).

Do not show the way to a lost traveler,

Do not give even a drop of rice-water (Torani) to the hungry.

For who knows, the hand extended to help

Might end up being bound in iron chains.

In this game of dice between truth and lies,

The lie always wins.

Truth does not even get the chance

To prove itself as the truth.

Absorbing the ticking sound of time within oneself,

Now, for many days to come,

One has to remain in silence…

—————–

— Ratnamaya Tripathy

Adhyayana, Balangir