The Butterfly Dream – Zhungzi
Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was myself. Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.
****
Oh Father!
Oh Father! We don’t talk very much
Not that I do have a grudge
It is just that stuff you describe as such
Seem different to me in a radical touch.
Oh Father! You say society is a dangerous place
Day-to-day running a never-ending race
Competing others so that we can ace
But I never see the vitality in your ways.
Oh Father! You ask me to become a big man
One day driving a luxurious van
And work in an office under a big fan
But I never understand this path you ran.
Oh Father! Explain to me this mysterious place
I’m sure that I’ll have to run this race
And fit myself to suit this place.
By Binula Ilesinghe
****
Midnight
Speak to me, aching heart: what
Ridiculous errand are you inventing for yourself
Weeping in the dark garage
With your sack of garbage: it is not your job
To take out the garbage, it is your job
To empty the dishwasher. You are showing off
Again,
Exactly as you did in childhood–where
Is your sporting side, your famous
Ironic detachment? A little moonlight hits
The broken window, a little summer moonlight,
Tender
Murmurs from the earth with its ready
Sweetnesses–
Is this the way you communicate
With your husband, not answering
When he calls, or is this the way the heart
Behaves when it grieves: it wants to be
Alone with the garbage? If I were you,
I’d think ahead. After fifteen years,
His voice could be getting tired; some night
If you don’t answer, someone else will answer.
By Louise Gluck
****
Forgive
A servant woman though I was
I yearned to feed you as any mother would do
Many don’t know how difficult it is
In someone else’s kitchen
But I knew it well
It didn’t daunt my motherly love
Before the lady of the house came in
I pushed a piece of fish into
Your little mouth
Before you munched it
I told you to swallow it
Fearing the lady’s appearance
You obeyed your poor mother
And swallowed it
It got choked in your little throat
Your eyes went up never to open again
My heart split into pieces in a flash
Though your mother is not in her senses yet,
Forgive her my little son
For what she did for her motherly affection
N.A.A.P.K. Nedurana
