The Naked Hills (Satis Shroff)

THE NAKED HILLS (Satis Shroff, Freiburg)

A young Nepalese woman
Sits in front of her parents’ thatched home
In the Middle Hills of Nepal.

Her two hands caress her shoulders.
It’s cold in the hills of Nepal,
Where the hills are naked
And its sons have left
In search of better pastures,
For the hills are barren.

Governments and kings
Have come and gone,
But the poverty has remained.
There’s no flour to bake one’s bread.
The mothers seek and pluck Brennessel,
And call it sisnu,
To make a soup
In the frugal hills of Nepal.

In Maghey Sankrati we eat
Stems and roots,
Tarul and sweet-potatoes.
There’s no wheat, maize, rice or mustard
In these naked hills.
Everything has become bitter.

What remains is love and attachment.
A Nepalese bird still sings:
Kafal pakyo.
Kafal pakyo.
The berry’s ripe

Glossary:
Brennessel (Ger.): sisnu (Nepali), stinging nettle
Maghey Sankrati: festival in Nepal