On the green terrain of the fortitude,
I have built a house out of the broken bricks,
and the pebbles they had thrown at me.
And I have painted my rooms bright, with the redness
of the volcanic wound they had bequeathed me.
And I’ve planted the thorns they had pierced
me with in the garden, hoping to see them
blossom into the flowers of serenity.
O God! I thank them for giving me everything.
What they’d hurled at me were you, yourself to me.
“The beauty of that moment,” I shall never, never forget!
They were throwing broken bricks at me, and I was
building a house with them. I was weaving my dreams with them.
Now, the course of my life is as sweet as the breeze.
Inside the house there is a new world waiting for me.
Had they then known that I would be using
those bricks and the pebbles to build my
house, then they would not have gifted me with
those ingredients. Poor them, what was rubbish
to them, turned out to be a treasure for me.
They were blinded by disgust; they saw nothing.
Ah! But I saw you in those bricks, and piled them up,
until I built a house … until I built a house.
Proud, very proud I am now, I shall be telling
my kids and my grandkids, with a silken smile
on my face, somewhere in time, that
I built a house out of the broken bricks,
they had hurled at me…..they had hurled at me.
Bhuwan Thapaliya was born in Kathmandu, Nepal and is one of the most widely read Nepali poets writing in English today. Thapaliya, who works as an economist, is the author of four poetry collections. His books include the recently released Safa Tempo: Poems New and Selected (Nirala Publication, New Delhi,http://niralapublications.com/new-booksarrivals/ ) and Our Nepal, Our Pride (Cyberwit.net) narrative verses of love, peace, and human understanding.
(http://www.amazon.com/Our-Nepal-Pride-Bhuwan-Thapaliya/dp/8182531152) .
Poetry by Thapaliya has been included in The New Pleiades Anthology of Poetry and Tonight: An Anthology of World Love poetry (http://www.skylinepublications.com/TONIGHTWorldLovePoetry/TONIGHTWorldLovePoetry.htm) as well as in literary journals such as Urhalpool, MahMag, Kritya, FOLLY, The Vallance Review, Nuvein Magazine, Foundling Review, Poetry Life and Times, Poets Against the War, Voices in Wartime, Taj Mahal Review, Strong Verse, poetseers.org, theasiamag.com, asianamericanpoetry.com, and more. Thapaliya has read his poetry and attended seminars in venues around the world, including South Korea, the United States, Thailand, Cambodia, and Nepal.
