July Alteration 1.0: Of Humans and War

This is a translation of Laishram Samarendra’s Mi Amasoong Laan from the anthology Laishram Samarendragi Apunba Lairik (2012). The poem was originally included in Wakchinggi Kabita, which was published in 1999. 

People have gathered and buried all the gods
God is always behind wars, they say,
In Egypt and Israel and Africa and Bosnia
Gods and wars always go together
The Britons chant the name of Jesus Christ
And they fight against the Germans
In the name of Jesus Christ
The Germans fight against the Britons
With Ram on their lips the Hindus clash with the Muslims
With Muhammad on their lips the Muslims fight with the Hindus
Gods have been useless, it is now accepted
Gods be damned; and gods be dead for good
And Deng Xiaoping and Mao Tse-tung and Ayatollah Khomeini
Everybody’s agreed:
God is the cause of all the wars and we want no war.
 

Shortly as it turns out
A wise person turns up
And soon he becomes a God,
Another wiser person comes out
And soon he also becomes a God
Again the wisest of them comes up
And no wonder he becomes a God as well
Ah! Humans cannot live without gods
And worse, humans cannot live without wars
And the wars resume
In the name of the new gods.

.......................................................

Read:  

• Oja Laishram Samarendra’s Works on This Blog
• The Last Day on Earth in Imphal

Download and read one complete dozen of Laishram Samarendra’s poems that have been translated and compiled in a booklet (PDF)! Check the link/article with the option to download the PDF, which is stored on my personal Google Drive. This means it’s completely safe to save it on your device.