Mhadei River / Mandovi River - Tributaries Of Timeless Generosity. Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

Let me be the river of timeless prosperity
let me flow and enhance the grace and glory
of every field and forest, of all the flora and fauna.
Let my children quench their thirst for water
let every fruit and crop grow in bounty
to feed and satiate their hunger.

Let me flow by my obligations dictated by nature
not by laws and rules decided by judges and jury,
let me flow along my pathway of centuries,
and not by man-made routes, dams and basins
which can distort our ecology and environment.

I am a river empowered by God
I am entitled to flow perennially
thro' every stream, brook and rivulet,
thro' every town, village and city;
the tributaries of my love are so vigorous
let me share with you forever this blessing I behold.

I am the providence which belongs to all
on either side of the mountains and valleys;
I am the river flowing so endlessly
I am that mother, you are my children
the water you need in every hand, in every home,
on every farm is my concern, perpetually.

And just like a mother's love
has no end but only a beginning
I keep flowing incessantly along the same path
along the same valleys through infinite years.

I am the river which has quenched the thirst
of so many generations for hundreds of years,
how can you refrain me now from my generosity
when the tributaries of my love bestow vivacity
on everyone who touches me and whom I touch?

Let me be that mother of duty
the bond between a mother and child is so inseparable,
the bond between the earth and the water is so inseparable,
why will you ever forgo the worthiness of my benevolence?
Let me be that river of timeless prosperity!