ROMANCE Poem: The River and the Horse-Prince, by Biren Shrestha

You are one to yearn for.
The ever-growing moss
Has planted itself by
Your bank today.

The sweltering heat
Must have dried you.
Your scarcity scars my throat
As I yearn to gulp you down.

If you wish for me to not
Dip my toes as you ebb
Why must you rise so high?
Why tease my one good eye?

For I cannot perceive depth
Not anymore as the socket
Remains hollow, not even
Does blood flow from the hole.

So I give up on judging
Through my sight but the
Sense of solace provided by the
Sound still speaks soulfully to me.

And as the sweet sound of your wave does
Bound like a hound, it does
Surround my mound and with your
Baptism I am crowned, your prince.

You’re quite sensible, as
Sense sails away with your tide.
For your existence and sense
Have quite weak an essence.

But then again, I gain
A painful stain upon my mane
If you refrain from obtain-ing
A soap that is quite plain.

For I have quite sensitive skin,
Too much of a ph can
Besmirch my good name
That goes alongside my fame.

I am quite famous, for love
And for the anxiety during
And for the hate afterwards.
So please treat me well.

So I may, leave you
With joyful memories as we
Swing on a hammock, and not a noose
As we die, of old age, together

As the unwanted children surround me
They shall say that they found me
With a smile on my face as they ground me
As the sweet embrace shall unbound me.

From this wretched earthly vessel
As I hassle and bustle
To build a castle and find a tassel
To hang my lonesome vassal.

For a right hand is of no use
To me anymore, without a left.
And to be left with loneliness and life
Is worse than having none left.