The Red Cascade | Hem Bishwakarma

 

-Hem Bishwakarma

Every month

A red cascade flows through me

Making me so proud

That I am the purest of all!

Your rinky-dink eyes

Behold the flow of the red cascade

 As red— the impure red

You envision it as untouchable!

The distance of purity

You never can gauge

With a scale of your intellect 

For it is far-off like the sun

Every dawn,

The sunrise showers its red beams

Our flag flutters its red glory

The rhododendron forest paints itself red

Are they untouchables?

Are they all impure?

Red symbolizes a rebel!

Red— also a love

That drips from a heart!

While in danger or disgrace

You flow a red terror on your face

Why do you draw?

A red line of swear with vermilion

Through a bride's head-parting

Why do you receive blessings?

With red Tika from a holy priest

On your forehead 

Are they impure?

Are they untouchables?

If you see red flowers 

Dancing merrily

Please, do not pluck them

The flowers may be impure!

The flowers may be untouchable!

(In Hinduism, girls are defined to be unholy and untouchables during their menstruation. They are kept aloof from others in a shack far from the home for 5-7 days. This inhuman practice prevalent in Nepali societies has cut short on the women empowerment.)

Introduction:

Hem Bishwakarma is a poet and translator from Nepal. He has many poetry and short stories translations, and poems in Nepali and English published to his credit. He mostly works on Nepali-English translations.