I lived in Nepal and worked with poet MANJUL to create a series of photos and poems
Buffalo Gyre
Poem by Manjul
Translation by M.M. Thakur
Even when the buffalo goes
Down into the water,
Its horns don’t go under.
If the horns go down into the water
All would have sunken,
Nothing would remain above.
If they go down,
So does my poetry,
All my work would sink too.
Trees would sink
From the earth,
Flowers from the trees,
Fragrance would sink
From the flowers,
Sensation from the fragrance.
The water would sink
From the river,
Depths, from the water,
And from the depths would sink
That quality
Which makes me see my image.
From this would sink
That quality
Which makes me wash my hands clean.
If the horns of the water buffalo goes
Down into the water,
My poems would sink too.
6:40 PM 3 May 2000
Putli Sadak