Refusing to be History

 

S. Samal

 

Life is not so

      great or glorious

to be inscribed

      on marble or stone

not that grand

      or glamorous

to be embossed

      in gold

 

I don’t want

      to be a part

      or annals of history,

a prologue

      or epilogue

                  to it,

want to stand

      outside it

      basking in the sunshine

of freedom

      and fluidity

 

for to enter history

      is to arrive at plateau,

get trapped in time

      and frozen in space

 

I am the burning

      saga of the present,

      living legend

      and moving

      episode

                  of the moment,

not the relics

      or fossil of the past,

      augury

or forecast

      of the future.

 

 

Back