The Last Stanza
  • 15 November 2011
    I and You
    Slok Gyawali

    Today You and I will end.
    And to all of You this message
    I shall send :
    I will revolt. I will rise.
    Viva La I ! Viva La I !

    Let it be clear, from this day forth
    I is first, and You will follow.
    I and You. I and You.
    I shall sacrifice no more for You.
    There is a new sheriff in town and it’s not You.

    You will learn to wear
    I’s one lettered shoe
    and follow it through paths
    I hoped You would take.
    For You and I this is the end.

    Viva La I ! Viva La I !
    I’s of the world unite!
    I's have nothing to lose
    except your You’s!
    I Zindabad ! I Zindabad !

  • 3 October 2011
    Rain
    Ritesh Bhandari

    Its raining for tomorrow
    and yesterday.
    Potholes I complained about disappear gradually,
    and shy pretenders
    remember their rusty villages.

    Birds hide inside trees
    and my enemy ants
    spring to life,
    with vengeance and disease.

    A polite female voice yawns,
    as I try and soak myself
    in this feverish but beautiful weather.
    Rain has condensed our distance;
    I would like to believe.

    Dry air is chased farther
    away from me
    and this country becomes mine
    for not being itself.
    for now.

    Little streams grow prouder
    and flaunt their vagabond existence,
    while my roof cracks with laughter
    to let in pariah drops,
    to plunder my warm cup of tea
    which itself jumps out to flirt
    with our fleeting visitor.

  • 31 August 2011
    afterwards
    Pranaya SJB Rana
     
    on your palms 
    and soles of feet
    on your back
    and white of thighs
    in your hair
    and down your spine
    i carve with my tongue:
    there will be no regrets today.
     
    with one smooth motion,
    we are children no more
    with one painful tear,
    we are innocent no more.
     
    on your breath
    and across your jaw
    on your lips
    and bridge of nose
    in your pupils
    and down your chest
    i make out the words:
    there will be no regrets today.
     
    with the coming light,
    we wake from sleep,
    with tired hearts and tired minds,
    we walk apart unwilling.
     
    but,
    in your eyes
    and your open palm,
    on every exhale
    and every footstep away,
    on every half-smile,
    and your crinkled brow,
    i read:
    there are nothing but regrets today.

     

  • 15 July 2011
    Bridge to Teribethia
    Kamal Maharjan

    Take me to the majestic place, 
    underwater, through the clouds. 
    close your eyes and open up your mind, 
    unleashing the chains and leaving all the sorrow behind. 

    if you believe in it, its true, 
    as true as the pain you feel, 
    as real as the blood in your veins. 

    who gives a fuck what they say, 
    who cares, if you're not one of them, 
    "faceless herd of sheeps, 
    look at each other and smile".

    where did you fade away? 
    and why did you leave me behind. 
    My eyes are closed and so are the doors to our kingdom. 

    Still want to go to the magical place, 
    underwater, through the clouds. 

    i close my eyes,shout out your name. 
    You stand by me,reach out your hands, 
    i smell your warmth and feel your breath. 
    Once again, i am alive. 

    oh, take me to the majestic place, 
    where i leave all my sorrow behind. 
    underwater, through the clouds. 
    close your eyes and open up your mind.

  • 19 June 2011
    You and I
    Alisha Adhikari

    it's the heavy black cloud
    it's the long sigh
    it's the numb hand
    it's the teary eye

    it's the lifeless shadow
    it's the rusty pipe
    it's the forgotten friend
    it's the meaningless life

    it's you
    and it's i.
  • 25 May 2011
    Those 19 days
    Slok Gyawali

    I remember when the great 19 days began.
    They said it was the final push,
    To end what started in the villages a decade ago.
     
    Time to overwhelm the capital with people
    in hundreds,
    in thousands
    or perhaps a hundred thousand.
    Chanting, singing, shouting on top of their voices,
    In urgency and anger.
    Many spectacle seekers brought there
    because everyone else was
    Holding green branches as placards,
    and partisan banners.
    for the silver sun and moon.
    United on the streets, as one nation
    for a while everyone was a Nepali first.
     
    I remember
    a day turning into two and that into a few.
    Till the master was master no more
    but the slave still the slave...

  • 1 May 2011
    Load Shedding
    Satyajit Pradhan
    I say there is no rationality
    Behind this social disparity
    That the taste of freedom and democracy
    Is reserved for you and not for me
     
    Sold to the highest bidder
    To the writer and not the reader
    Bought by the self-appointed leader
    Who imprisons the children’s feeder
     
    Hope is lost in perpetual darkness
    Disconnected from the world
    Blindfolded in sadness
    But you know the reason for this public madness
     
    Of technology we can only have a little taste
    Education at the highest level is going to waste
    Our future is diminishing before us in such haste
    And patriotism is classified and therefore misplaced
     
    Politicians ignoring our empty plates
    Driven by greed, dictating our fates
    To a hungry stomach no one relates
    And you wonder why our heart only hates?
     
    They tax us for every step we take
    For every time we sleep and every time we wake
    While every promise issued is certifiably fake
    And they ask us why we rebel when our souls are at stake
     
    Every breath we take is polluted
    All of our rights have been looted
    The situation is convoluted
    In perpetual darkness we are all suited
     
    Happy load-shedding everyone
    Someday the only light we’ll see is the sun
    And yet our struggles have only just begun
    Our leaders have their fingers on the trigger of the gun
     
    Don’t let them turn the light off of your soul
    Break free from the ignorance they imposed to control
    Don’t let this darkness make you surrender your goal
    And take back the once radiant country they stole 
  • 10 April 2011
    An Ode to Children
    Amendra Pokhrel
    I like the confidence of children,
    The way they throw themselves at things
    As if they would never fall.

    I like the anticipation of children;
    The way they linger on, after the end,
    As if that’s not all.

    I like the play of children -
    The way they hit at everything 
    As if life’s just a ball.

    I like the compassion of children,
    The way they mingle with everyone
    As if they love one and all.

    I like the self-indulgence of children,
    The way they want everything,
    As if life is a windfall.

    I like the prayers of children,
    The way they think God‘s just round the corner
    Waiting on their call.

  • 28 March 2011
    Strangers in Love
    Prashant Das

    I feel no more the pains of the world
    I wish not to share them.
    Human I am and human let me be.

    The heart was broken once;
    The pieces do not fit together now.
    What was lost is lost forever.

    Do not speak; don’t tell me your secrets;
    Let’s remain strangers and yet be friends.

  • 28 February 2011
    The Bottle and I
    Yukta Bajracharya

    Stuck on the desk, 
    the bottle stares at me.
    Left behind,
    by someone it was happy to belong to.
    It is half empty,
    half filled.
    Cold inside out.
    It is emptying gradually
    as small drops,
    one
    by one,
    escape it.
    There is a leak in there, somewhere, but I cannot find
    and cannot heal.

    Today, it's me and the bottle
    looking at one another
    through the invisible
    mirror.