Setting Fire on Desires by Suman Pokhrel.

Setting Fire on Desires
by Suman Pokhrel.

Let there be fire set to all my desires.
I’d extinguish it if I could,
or be devoured by its flame.

The breeze I clutched, thinking love was only fire,
the feeling I groped assuming love was nothing but a fire.
every fervent gasp, flickers of heat;
keep a spark alive in your heart, too,
I’d extinguish it if I could,
or be devoured by its flame.

Every sigh of longing, just another ember,
the moments I lived, as I believed life was all flame;
let there be a pyre kept for me somewhere,
I’d extinguish it if I could,
or be devoured by its flame.
.................................


(Original work written in March 2002 as मेरा सबै रहरहरूमा आगो लाउँला म [Mera Sabai Raharharuma Aago Launla Ma], in Nepali. Published in मलाई जिन्दगी नै दुख्दछ Malai Zindagi Nai Dukhdachha , 2016, p. 15. Biratnagar: Sirjan Publications.)
Translated by the poet himself.