This is a beautiful translation into the English language by Naro, of a poem by the Mongolian scholar-poet Zava Damdin (1976- ). 

Enhanced photographic digital art “Blossoming” by C.Pleteshner. 8 August 2024

Time

Time, you are like a bird

Like a path in the sky, you fly by

Whilst sitting, you still fly within your thoughts

Yet, there’s nothing to hold in the hand

Flying is … as if standing on thin air

Like standing ceases to exist

Yet unable to grasp within one’s mind

 

Time, you are like a fish

Like a water path, you swim past

Whilst stopped, the fins are still moving

No trace detectable within the water

Swimming is, as if a mere stop in waters

Nothing left of the past, nothing arriving of the future

The present, never halting

 

Time, you are like an antelope

Like a mirage, you flash across

Whilst lying down, still galloping in one’s thoughts

No destination within the mind

Galloping, is a mere touch of the ground, a mere breath of the wind

The present is like the arrival and passing of time

Nothing kept within the steppe breeze

 

Time, you are like a metropolis

Buildings so tall, yet smaller than the mind

Fast vehicles, yet slower than one’s thoughts

Society, yet as if a single person’s play

 

Time, no one can trick you

Although no physical form, you’re a noble judge

Although without eyes, you see everything

Although without ears, you hear all

 

But no entity can judge you

And no one can see nor hear you

No one can clutch or confine you

You, the king of death, who weighs the truth and lies

 

Oh time, I sometimes cherish you

Sometimes, I fear you

Sometimes, I imagine you in forms

Sometimes, I imagine that I am you

by

The Little Hermit of Grassy Mountain

Translation by Naro

27.05.2024

Pure Land of Soyombo

(Reprinted with permission)

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Translation is always an interpretation into another culture.