Atlas of the World for a Poet

                           -Bharat Bhardwaj

Atlas of the world

in the poet’s eyes is

just the line drawn by the pencil.

Borders of the countries is just like the

edges of the field.

People are

just wearing mask that looks like human-face.

Government is just like the

driver of the aristocrat.

Just like the conqueror in the history, and a hero of a movie,

who is seen in the poster and disappeared in the course of time,

no any countries including America, India, China, UK and Russia,

now have heroes, conquerors and creators.

Hence, it’s not just the imagination of the poet,

it’s the reality that

a country, in fact, is the soil.

A poet I am

where I have been living.

Why would I say all countries in the world belong to other except I was born?

Why would I say only where I live is my motherland?

If the god is the preserver,

destroyer and creator of this world,

why are we divided in the

countries?

provinces?

districts?

regions?

and villages?

Hence, let’s forget the citizenship of all,

let’s forget the identity cards,

passports,

land certificates,

and let’s remember the

land

soil

ocean

field

jungle

desert

and the cities remained everywhere in the world.

They belong to all of us.

Moreover, let’s think in a way a poet thinks,

any countries in the world belong to us

Oh, how wonderful it would be!

This wonderfulness would get us think that

all the check posts,

borders,

walls,

laws,

and constitution

are only the lines drawn in the paper with a pencil.

published date 2076-8-3

Translated from Nepali into English by Rabindra Timsena