You Who Bear the Sins of Your Dreams | Theurang

It is not possible for the cold sun to give you warmth
Nor can it fill the crannies of your hardened bones,
In the dark of the night a bright light shines
You alone are that light –
After the turquoise locks are shorn, magnificent braids of fire
Grow on the crown of your sublime wisdom,
Where wings sprout on the branches of all senses,
A nation of activism gathers in your chest –
Just as space is vultures’ stronghold
That space is your fortress too,
Lifting the sun with your hands
The country in the rays follows your lead.
But today, you and your country reside in darkness
This darkness is the river you cut across, and
The throat of that river is clogged in your heart –
Sins of seeing the snowmountain from your birth
Have given you dreams of torture that cannot be waived,
Today, carrying these sins you write your destiny
Write it with radiance and darkness
Write it with the moving path of suffering –
This evening, I heard a song,
This evening, perhaps you are listening to a song too,
In the rising peak of the jungle of darkness,
The song spreading like the rays of the sun is Rangwang Gawa* –
Rangwang Gawa is the clear imprint of your spirit,
Your hands of your wisdom subduing the pain and sorrow,
Your song of vowels and consonants clearing the throats,
Your dreams of destiny that will remain even after your death,
The sun you etched in the heart of the snowmountain …
Translated by Bhuchung D. Sonam

Note:

• Rangwang Gawa, meaning “Freedom Loving One”, is the name of Shokjang’s son who was about a year old when Shokjang was arrested.

Tashi Rabten (pen name: The’urang), a student at the Northwest Nationalities University and the editor of banned literary magazine Eastern Snow Mountain (Tibetan: Shar Dungri), was sentenced to four years in prison on 2 June 2011. His sentencing came more than a year after detention and follows that of three other Tibetan intellectuals who wrote powerful essays in the magazine.His whereabouts and well-being are unknown.