Bishwa Sigdel
(Translated form Nepali by Chandra Bahadur Lama )
From home when I departed,
the dog below waved its tail as if
victory flags unfurled,
in victory of the great warrior.
I, Alexander,
smiled,
contemplated,
it survives upon my breadcrumbs.
If only it could,
it would reverberate the alley, the toll and the thoroughfares,
as it reverberates the entire house.
Outside the house
in the alley of toll
wagged its tail in the same rhythm
by a homeless dog
which occasionally,
would receive few pieces of morsels of porcine fat
chicken leg or entrails of she-goat
when I come home inebriated.
I, Genghis Khan,
smiled ,
contemplated,
it survives in the hope of my breadcrumbs.
If only it could
instead of its tail
it would shake
cities, nations and the world at large.
In a deserted place
Some dogs
engulfed by my dignity, ostentation, and fragrances
wagged their tails as if
tremors upheld on the tables in parliament
by beating in support.
I, Emperor Ashoka,
smiled,
contemplated,
these famished souls of my breadcrumbs’ grace,
If only they could
instead of wagging their tails
they would trade their intellects
as now they are bartering their academic certificates of university
with sincerity, pledge, and words as collateral.
These are seen ready with coins
to proffer offerings at my feet.
Upon reaching my destination,
I was in awe,
finding myself at the very end of a queue that stretched longer than the wagging tails of dogs.
Truth keeps no relation with my awe
The truth is this
that our epoch
has been an era of tailless dogs?
