PILGRIM
Which temple are you going to, Pilgrim,which temple are you going to now?
Which devices are you going to worship with,
and how will you carry them now?
Having climbed upon other men's shoulders,
which heaven are you going to now?
These beautiful pillars are all of bones,
the walls of flesh amassed:
The golden roof is of the brain,
the sense's threshold to be passed.
The waves and caprices of channels and veins,
yourself, the temple vast.
Pilgrim, which temple are you going to,
which temple-threshold now?
On the golden throne of the mind there reigns
the king of the universe, Thou!
This beautiful blaze of consciousness
is the crown upon his brow.
The body is a beautiful temple,
the centre of cosmic power.
Inside is god: ouside, the eyes,
wandering, searching out which town?
God resides in the deep,
flows in the water so far down.
You are going to look...wear a heart...
kindle a lamp....proclaim your crown.
Friend, the pilgrim, in the middle of the road,
walks with god across the land,
He hears the sound of work
and kisses the doing hand,
Touches with mysterious power
the heads of the following band.
God, he sings at the edge of the road
throught the agency of birds;
In his song is man,
his pain, his sorrow told in words.
He gives to no one without vision,
with his one-membraned eye.
Pilgrim, which temple are you going to,
which country with its foreign herds?
Return! Be sure to return! Go, capture
men's worship benign.
Put the balm on the feet of affliction
on the wounds which linger, malign.
The faces of men are of god's,
the face with the smile divine.
Translated by Albert Harris
Lakshmi Prasad Devkota (Nepali: लक्ष्मीप्रसाद देवकोटा; November 12, 1909 – September 14, 1959), was a Nepali poet. Devkota is revered by many as the greatest poet of Nepal, and has been given the title of "Maha Kavi" ("The Great Poet"). Devkota was born on the night of Lakshmi Pooja in 1966 BS to father Teel Madhav Devkota and mother Amar Rajyalakshmi Devi in Dillibazar, Kathmandu.
