Motherland: Longing and Belonging

By Ajay Pradhan | Oct. 26, 2013 | May 4, 2015

Musky winds, this dewy night
Took my mind to a soaring height
Eyes wide shut, as they say
On the clouds, there I lay
Searching again for some light
Seeing nothing, but a nimble sprite.
From the misty lair high above, I looked down
Bejeweled like a bride, I saw my town.
There the mountains stood, donning white caps
And the valleys lay, with welcoming laps.
Come back, my son, they whispered from down there
Wander no more, you belong nowhere but here.
The moment of truth and of longing
Came rushing in torrents, too overwhelming.

Oct. 26, 2013

Note:

I wrote this poem in Oct. 2013 and posted on social media. At the time, I had suspended Humanature Journal from the public view. Now that I have reactivated it, I'm posting this poem for you all.

This metaphorical poem is evocative of Kathmandu, the city I grew up in. The "bejeweled bride" is the metaphor I used for Kathmandu, the "mountains" and "valleys" for the fathers and mothers in Nepal and "musky winds", "clouds" and "misty lair high above", the metaphors for Canada. The poem echoes the motherland's call for its children to "wander no more" and come home from abroad as they, the sons and daughters, "belong nowhere but" there in Nepal. I wrote it in the moments of intense longing for our motherland.

Given the devastation from the earthquake of April 25th, the wellspring of emotions has opened wide and in full force. The sense of longing and belonging is no stronger ever before than at this time of national disaster. I hope this poem is more relevant now than when I wrote it a year-and-a-half ago.


May 4, 2015