How much sorrow I still carry
With a sprained ankle
As I climb the Everest,
And shall not I cry out
Pitying myself, saying,
Man, you are so stubborn,
You are foolish,
And pitying myself I shall say,
You idiot deserve no pity.
Why don’t you leave your rucksack behind
When it sags on your back like guilty conscience,
And you feel like devil carrying all hell?
Why don’t you leave your heavy boots-
Your legs are already dead,
They won’t save you from frostbite
‘Cuz you are bitten
And you shall die.
Why bother to climb these last few paces,
Why smother the virgin snow,
Why spoil what is not yours?
Man, why don’t you die?-
And then I look behind,
The world seems so small,
There’s a deluge of misty clouds-
How can I go back?
I fell in love
And soared to the sky,
And left my heart on the Everest.
I have to fetch it back.
I know I will die.
                      -6 April, 2002, Calcutta 63