[Transcreation] Gaya
A cruel lesson!
Beside
the star retreats,
named synonymous
with the Great one,
prostrate seedy by-lanes
in yellow tatters
Like Bodhisatva*
from the Jataka* tales,
the Banyan is in
its umpteenth reincarnation
It’s roots are on sale,
at every nook and corner,
at obscene prices
A tonsured evening
gets lost in the cacophony
of bells and conchs
-shuns prayer
The progenies of Bimbisara* know,
the teeming crowd,
their lame limbs,
are beyond His reach
The Nirvana attained by
the ones who walk out
is alien to the ones
who are thrown out
A Banyan’s shade is not must
to attain enlightenment
I realized
at the railway platform
I became Buddha
before my adieu to Gaya
A poem in Malayalam by Venu Kandurkunnu
Transcreation by Vijay © 6th February, 2008
* Jataka
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