One must suddenly get lost in the woods
Like a dragonfly… or a centipede…
Or, hang lonely by the tip of a leaf
on the crown of a giant tree…

One must lie suspended between two infinities
Like the all-important God Particle!

Or, vanish into the fog
hovering over the cascading runnel.

In the mealy translucence
One must open up like a Lotus
Or take to wings like a dove
Into the enigmatic ether…

One must glide into the autumnal afternoons
From the dripping torrents of incessant rain…

Like the ant slowly breaking through the cornice
Or, like a flower snuggling silently in its sepals

I long to retire and embrace meditation
Like a kite tangled to the ultimate branch
For a spurt of life, however little or fleeting

When the embarrassing accounts
Of blessings and deprivations
Burrow the heart disconcertingly
I feel like stealing into every little life
…. That was not mine.

Original: Nishigandha (Telugu) – చిటారుకొమ్మన గాలిపటం…
Translation: Nauduri Murthy