Prabuddha XXIII

Rani soap fragranced

tap-water showered

deep red lipstick

fingernails and toenails reddened too

thickly powdered cheeks

bright and vividly colored sari

wrapped around her

out on to the lonely street

at dusk she ventures.

Where to, sister, pray tell!

‘Do you not see the multitude

thronging towards the carnival

following them am I

to gift as alms of a kind my flesh.

No, not so I too will attain enlightenment 

as per the doctrine of the paramitas,

but only to pray for a meal tomorrow

for the children starve

and the man is consumptive 

to them relief must I bring.’

Amma bud vaeva!

[Mother, may you attain Buddhahood!]

There were young men

long-haired and bearded 

with rich shirts tucked into pants

held by thick leather belts

arm in arm with girls

as young as she

into whose ears they poured

the sweet nothings of love.

Reclining in soft comfortable seats

in the glow of bulbs

filtered through multiplicity of color

with puckered lips

young and fresh

on the edge of a glass

or else from the bottle straight

through thin paper straws

they sucked in love.

It’s a riot of sound

the carnival grounds

runs round 

the merry-go-round  

heads and heads

they are everywhere.

They weren’t sad

not one of them

laughing joyously were they

danced into the grounds

gathered and sang

grotesquely masked

and yet

all gods, all divine

at one, at some moment in time

that they were,

all bodhisatvas 

marked for Sammaa Sambuddhahood.

The iron voice blurted 

cutting through laughter and cheers 

‘Hey, come one, come all,

let’s dance, let’s sing

for the time it is a-passing!” 

It was his voice

cut into a record

that he heard

aeons later

mind broken by anger.

Disenchanted he still was

when he left the carnival.

among the bushes dark he saw

a darkened couple,

and first glance said

two springs of love

gushing love’s sweetest lines.

‘No, Ranjani, no!

Please don’t cry.  

You’ll never understand

however many times I explain.

How can I marry you?

You would complain one day

you would say I ruined your life!’

He stood still

their words and sighs

brushing the ears of his heart

and cutting through 

laughter and cheers

the loudspeaker’s cacophony

their voices surfaced:

‘All property they pawned

my parents did,

just to educate me

and now thanks to me

they wallow in misery.’

‘Let us drink poison,

both of us,

together!’

And then he heard 

many, many voices

a thousand complaints

from a thousand mouths 

he heard

from all all over

the carnival grounds. 

‘My chest get tight

it does, Sir, at night.

I can't breathe then

I fear then 

that death is upon me.

And yet the doctor 

they say there’s nothing wrong

with me!’

‘I will hang myself

I will jump into a well

he was so different then

but now

such a cruel man he is!’

‘Look here boss,

sure, I steal,

I am a pickpocket.

There’s no joy

don’t get me wrong.’

‘Good sir, listen to my story!

My eldest daughter

she ran away

eloped with a vagrant

did she!’

‘Failed again,

but had I passed

it would have been so good

the promotion would be mine!’

‘I have to pay my rates

forty thousand this year

and once that’s done

I’d be finished!’

All these laments

from all corners of the carnival 

echoed like one single 

inalienable chorus

in his ears

and yet

blended into that chorus

was but a singular line:

‘let’s dance, let’s sing

for the time it is a-passing!’ 

Pitiful is life

empty and fruitless

devoid of meaning

‘Konu haaso kim aanando’ 

What laughter, what joy? [when all is burning]

*This is the twenty third part of the translation of Mahagama Sekera's classic narrative poem 'Prabuddha', an exercise that has the permission and blessings of the immediate family of Mahagama Sekera. 

Parts I, II, III, IV, V, VI , VII, VIII,  IX, X , XI, XII, XIII,XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX , XXI and XXII can be found in www.malindapoetry.blogspot.com.