Truth Like Poetry: 1

One. The girl collected her hair;
not for any reason,
just out of whim.

A bag
half a kilo
had grown
in just two years.

The girl's hair fell to her knees.
After marriage it slowly shortened,
settling just below her shoulders.

To see how much was there and how much was gone
the girl collected her hair.
This is a kind of passion, this is a kind of dream.

One day
at four thousand rupees per kilo
selling all the girl's hair
from the wig factory
getting two thousand rupees
the groom thought, well! My wife isn't completely useless after all!

In just two years the girl's passion
had become valuable in her in-laws' house.

Some raise sheep,
some raise wives.

Two. What we see and what they see,
between these two lies a curtain.
On either side of the curtain are two kinds.
And both kinds are true.

Each life has its own truth.
Everyone except the stubborn and foolish accepts this.
As long as the world exists,
the truth that will endure is this:
there are multiple truths to living.

We understand truth as much
as we assume more.
What we want to happen,
happens or will happen as much,
as much more happens or will happen,
what happens or is meant to happen.

So we mostly
live not in truth, but in assumption.

We live leaning on the sky's shoulder,
or does
the sky live leaning on our shoulder—
without seeking the answer to this
an entire life with an entire sky
can be spent quite well.

Three. Even after all these years
from different numbers
I call you...
not to talk.

When you cut the call
the moment you hear my voice,
I feel very good.

Even today you remember my voice!
...However many times I see this,
I am deeply satisfied.

I keep restless for hearing one hello from you...even today!

Four. I wanted to keep you in this life
not for myself, but for you.

I always knew,
no one else could take care of you with such tenderness.

I didn't get you, there's no sorrow.
I couldn't keep you well, that's my only regret.

Five. Only for us
the path spreads itself open,
the words lying
in our pockets we keep counting,
and suddenly think,
if these words ever run out
what will we lean on to live?

We are afraid.
Yet we don't stop, we keep walking.
We know we have far to go.

Sometimes we feel,
in the wind somehow
the ocean's scent gets trapped!

Six. Love—
what a contagious disease!
Once you fall,
you just keep falling...
sinking deeper and deeper.

Once you lean on love's shoulder
the paralysis only grows.

When love leaves
tears still remain.
Along with them
some scars, some memories.

Even if you pierce the world through and through
you won't find anywhere more fragile
than one who falls in love.

Seven. How convenient for you!
Born with such a form,
one look and the urge to love arises.

Whenever you want you can dream
of going to the other side of that mountain,
where no one has ever gone.

At home or outside,
everywhere you're cherished;
whenever you wish
you can reject anyone you please.

You cannot be returned,
dreaming of coming to you
one can only keep coming back.

You were born
to make me think of you constantly.
I was born
to cry while witnessing
my own burial
thinking of you.

Unable to return to my own home
today I silently endure my lifespan.

Eight. If I had you I would have ruined you.
So it's good that I don't have you.

I touch you in beloved songs.

Do you know what love is?

Shall I teach you today?

Listen, love is the generous interpretation of our behavior.

Even someone worthless like you got married, has children, so why shouldn't I?

I dream that one day I truly won't torment you anymore.

Nine. Nothing else,
I only wanted a worthy address
for my feelings.

I've found it!

Love...

can actually only be felt from a distance.
Up close people try to grasp,
everything becomes physical.

Nearness is called romance,
distance is called love.

Ten. You'll throw money around, find romance too,
drown deep in love;
yes yes, all that's already known!

You'll find plenty of love affairs,
but where in them will you find me?

You'll go crazy searching,
whoever you find, even in them
you'll madly take me,
mixing me in!

Houses spread along paths,
but home is still just one!
Maybe I'm a bit bad,
that's my virtue!

If you drive me away you'll regret it deeply,
when thirst strikes, where will you dive?

Eleven. I don't feel like sharing sorrow.
It feels somehow childish!

I don't feel like sharing joy.
It feels somehow pompous!

There's truly no point
in showing off happiness or sorrow.

Those who aren't affected
by anything of mine,
let them not be mine for even a second.

I share exactly what
doesn't show me,
but carefully hides instead.
Life deserves some hide-and-seek.

If you show your inside
people understand
exactly where to stick the knife.

Twelve. Don't call me back like that anymore.
I love you...what if I mistakenly return again!

Yearning...
though something very big in life,
still there are many more stories to tell.

Just having feet doesn't mean you can go back?
The heart is stuck in this quicksand!

The more you call,
the more I think,
can you really go back just because someone calls?
How many more times will I go to deception?

Thirteen. When she starts to leave,
then she just keeps leaving...
What pain...what pain!
Still she keeps leaving...
Tears come, heart-breaking tears!
Still who hears this wretch's words!

Life seems to slip away,
keeps slipping away from within this chest...
Brain and voice keep stopping...just keep stopping...
What do I do! What do I do!
Winter inside, monsoon outside...endlessly falling.

Where do I flee? Where do I flee?
How does one flee abandoning life?
Trees, rivers, flowers all look blurred,
forest's green, heart's innocent...
Whatever I see, everything looks blurred.
What happened! Has living become a burden too!

I become a stranger to myself,
heart's blood flows in torrents,
tear-swollen eyes silently dry up
and keep dying...keep searching for something!

Fourteen. Never again, even by mistake
will I return to that path.
Today all desire to meet
your eyes is dismissed.
I'd rather sit on empty rooftops
and bring rain down from the sky.

Sky is better than you,
tears better than love,
melancholy better than exhaustion.

In this crowd of betters
today let all desire
to have you be erased.

A life that ends before it's lived,
no matter how happy and sweet...
what's the use of finding such a life, tell me?

In dreams of untasted kisses
leaning against the ocean
falling asleep is more peaceful
than drowning in your face.

Fifteen. You can go wherever you please.
After much give and take I've learned today,
one whose own hands are empty
can never give anything to anyone.

The well from which comes the water
to quench your thirst,
there the water level keeps dropping.
Without even that water how will you survive?

Believe me, after my death
all burning is now complete.
Keeping some ashes before you
why do you still lie here?

Go wherever you please.
There's still time;
even when all lamps are extinguished
it's still not too late.

When staying is called death,
leaving doesn't become sin.

Sixteen. One who has no work,
when spring comes to his house too
the poor fellow falls into terrible trouble!

How to let it sit,
give it good food...
One who can't manage two meals a day,
why does spring come to his house too?

Whether there's sin in the heart or not,
much more urgent than that is
whether there's anything in the house
to serve spring!

In his heart he vows,
next year
if spring comes again,
he'll lay out a mat,
fill the plate with rice and lentils
somehow or other.

When spring comes
what's the point
of turning it away...
every year?
Better than that
for spring's sake
he'll just
get ready!

Seventeen. Not to write poetry,
from a leaning tree
how several boys
dive down,
I went to the riverbank to see.

Not to chase away sorrow,
drowning in your eyes
to remove melancholy
how sweet it feels,
I came to you to see.

Eighteen. I was walking alone in darkness,
that was actually better!

Whenever I've run thinking it was light,
reaching close I see,
that light is darker than darkness.

Rather than fleeing from darkness
it was better
to learn to walk in darkness.

In dreams of recognizing light
the nightmare of forgetting darkness
I finally received as destiny.

Nineteen. We want all citizens to crowd around us.
We forget that whoever everyone crowds around, in that crowd he's the first to get lost.

Dreams teach us to walk.
When dreams come true
truth teaches us to stop.

When everyone sees us,
we can no longer be seen.

Twenty. Since she told me,
never to knock again!

Still my heart says,
she loves me.

Today the relationship doesn't survive,
yet belief still lives on.