After Midnight

by Mohan Rana

I saw the stars far off -
as far as I from them:
in this moment I saw them -
in moments of the twinkling past.
In the boundless depths of darkness,
these hours
hunt the morning through the night.

And I can't make up my mind:
am I living this life for the first time?
Or repeating it, forgetting as I live
the first moment of breath every time?

Does the fish too drink water?
Does the sun feel the heat?
Does the light see the dark?
Does the rain too get wet?
Do dreams ask questions about sleep as I do?

I walked a long, long way
and when I saw, I saw the stars close by.
Today it rained all day long and the words were washed away
from your face.

22.11.2009

 

The literal translation of this poem was made by Lucy Rosenstein

The final translated version of the poem is by Bernard O'Donoghue

Comments

  1. May 5th, 2013 at 6:10 pm

    Candacia says:

    Very nice. It's lovely!

  2. December 19th, 2011 at 6:25 pm

    Abdirahman Ahmed says:

    Good job man, much respect!

  3. February 28th, 2011 at 2:12 pm

    Jailson Pereira says:

    Brilliant poem, i loved it!

  4. November 21st, 2010 at 6:31 am

    Gulbash Gulzameenvi says:

    really amazing poem ..... 

  5. October 21st, 2010 at 5:29 pm

    Latika Singh says:

    I really love this poem. So far. All of Mohan Rana's poems are fantastic.


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