Painting & Poetry:
Nature–An Academy of Wisdom
Painting: Sandhya Regmi
Sandhya Regmi
Dancing clouds over the precious rocks & mountains of Nepal
From untiring rivers and rivulets
That flow ceaselessly onwards,
Learn the mighty lesson of life
That moves ahead constantly
Despite overwhelming setbacks.
From upright hills above
That exhaust never,
Learn lesson of watching
With unyielding patience
and unflagging determination.
From snow-capped ridges
Which never cease to melt,
Learn the lesson inexhaustible
Abundance that hides behind
Unspeakable benevolence
Of consciousness deep within.
From abysmal recesses
Of cooing pine trees,
Imbue the sweetness that lies
embedded in mass
Of persistence and strife.
Smitten with buffets of snow-flakes
And biting frost in winter,
And shorn of their beauty,
Learn from the cheerless trees
Enlivened and rejuvenated
With lively fresh shoots in spring.
Flower garden never an object
Merely of delight and amusement,
Serves often a cause
For misery and woe.
Of tenderness and compassion
Rose a symbol powerful
Is also a plant with prickles.
From the garden of
Flowers presenting radiating smiles
Here, there and everywhere
Learn the ephemelarity of life
ever and ever my dear.
The mission of life overlook never
Is not amassing material wealth,
But for our unbound soul
Is reaching for the sky
For unfettered freedom.
Learn from the chirruping birds
Of golden cage,
Casting their victuals offered
On a silver platter away
To spread your wings wide
In the expansive sky
Of unshackled freedom.
The azure sky that causes
Generosity descend in drops
Is also an emblem of anger;
Clouds symbol of comeliness
Are Often armed in revolt;
From the patches of clouds
Hovering in th sky wide
As fleecy pieces of cotton
Learn to roar and descend
In torrents, Against all injustice.
Mother earth a living symbol
Of love and tolerance
Even nurtures a raging volcano
In its womb;
When treated with disdain
Or when boundary crossed
Of humaneness,
Learn to erupt and display
An outburst of retribution.
Translator: MB Pradhan