Keshav Meshram
One day I cursed that
mother-fucker God
One day I cursed that mother-fucker
God
He just laughed shamelessly.
My neighbor – a born-to-the pen
Brahman- was shocked.
He looked at me with his castor-oil
face and said,
“How can you say such things to the
Source of the indescribable,
Qualityless, formless juggernaut?
Shame on you for trying to catch the
dharma-hood
In a noose of words.”
I cursed another good hot curse.
The university buildings shuddered
and sank waist deep.
All at once, scholars began doing
research
Into what makes people angry.
They sat in their big rooms
fragrant with incense,
Their bellies full of food,
And debated.
On my birthday, I cursed God.
I cursed him, I cursed him again.
Whipping him with words, I said
“Bastard!
“Would you chop a whole cart of wood
For a single piece of bread?
“Would you wipe the sweat from your
bony body
With your mother’s ragged sari?
“Would you wear out your brothers
and sisters
For your father’s fix?
“Would you work as a pimp
To keep him in booze?
“Oh Father,Oh God, the father!
You could never do such things.
“First you’d need a mother
One no one honors,
One who toils in the dirt
One who gives and gives of her love”
One day I cursed that mother-fucking
God.
Translated
by Jayant Karve , Eleanor Zelliot with Pam Espaland
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