SOME QUESTIONS FROM THE ANNUAL EXAMINATIONS
What could be more explosive
the city’s lonely man
or
the bomber’s lonely briefcase abandoned at some junction?
Memory’s tree, lush branches
laden with fruits
Where are the roots?
Here the breath’s polluted Ganga
flows thus
Where is the sea?
Where its Gangotri?
The body bears the mind’s burden
Or has the history of the body burdened the mind?
To build which palace of faces
must this face become a wall?
And to save which face
must this face become a martyr
Which face? What face?
How many faces
can fit inside one face?
1998, Rajendra Bhandari
From: Kshar/Akshar
Publisher: Janapaksha Prakashan, Gangtok, 1998
© Translation: 2003, Anmole Prasad
From: Chandrabhaga
Vol. 8
Publisher: Jayanta Mahapatra, Cuttack, 2003
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