Footsteps Poem by Samarendranath Mahapatra

Footsteps are seen
on the zigzagging road.
Dry shadows spread out
from the emptiness of the sky
to the vast cosmos.
The signs of footsteps are seen
at the doorsteps of the soul.

So many generations
Take their births from the navel,
In the nearer sound
to the sound of everywhere.
The words turn remote,
a new speechlessness.
Whose invisible, quiet hand
is quiet under the pressure of time?
Footsteps are clearly seen.

I don't know who I am.
Someone writes down my epitaph.
from my childhood to a distant age,
from hell to heaven,
touching the flowers, the ashes.
Footsteps are clearly seen.
Translated from original Odia by Bibhu Padhi