Where Shall I Go! Poem by Bishnupada Sethi

Where shall I go!
Leaving this land,
For which I am only a trustee.
As a tribal, I am duty bound
To pass it on to the generation next!

Who would shift the banyan tree!
And the village spirits lying underneath.
What would happen to the streams?
Singing praises in the names of God,
And the rocks lying there,
Our monuments for ages.

I will set my ancestors free,
Whose spirits I had installed in the home;
I am not sure,
If they won’t be angry,
As I failed to preserve things, given to me.
They were lucky,
They knew no state,
No king ever ruled them before.

After I leave the land,
They would build the modern temple
For making gold out of earth.
A new era would dawn
With promises of more happiness;
And I know not for sure
If it means anything
To me or people like me.