Poetry Friday – Vinod Kumar Shukla

A poem in translation from Hindi:

One Should See One’s Own Home From Far Off One should see one’s own home from far off. One should cross the seven oceans to see one’s home, in the helplessness of the unbridgeable distance, fully hoping to return some day. One should turn around, while journeying, to see one’s own country from another. One’s Earth, from space. Then the memory of what the children are doing at home will be the memory of what children are doing on Earth. Concern about food and drink at home will be concern about food and drink on Earth. Anyone hungry on Earth will be like someone hungry at home. And returning to Earth will be like returning home. Things back home are in such a mess that after walking a few steps from home, I return homewards as if it were Earth. Translation: 2002, Vinod Kumar Shukla and Daniel Weissbort From: Survival (ed. by Daniel Weissbort and Girdhar Rathi) Publisher: Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 2002