gulab khandelwal selected poems

You won’t be able to efface me.

I am the thousand-armed warrior
‘Shahastrarjuna’,
It would make no difference
If some of my arms are shorn;
I am the thousand-headed ‘Sheshnag’,
It would make no difference
If some of my heads are cut off.
You won’t be able to kill me.

I have not drawn these lines on water,
I have carved them on stone.
The blood of my heart has flown to tend the root
And raise this maple tree.
You won’t be able to destroy me.

You want to know the strategy of my defeat?
All right,
Take it from me.
Draw a line bigger than this line,
Pick up a color deeper than this color.
There is nothing else
Which can make you forget me.

You won’t be able to efface me.