The Poison of Life (Death)
(My loose translation of Lalzuahliana’s “Nunna Tûr (Thihna)” 9.4.1998)
The air above us is charged with gunsmoke,
The dust of the earth is spilled with blood,
The horse and the cart are chasing each other,
The guns and the cannons firing one another.
Death is blowing with the wind,
And the whirlwind carries venom.
We stumble; they fall,
We vanish; they too are no more.
Knowledge begets death;
Wisdom gives birth to vexation;
Power breeds terror.
Because of love there is hate,
Because of wealth there is poverty.
In the morning we are awakened with enmity,
At night we rack our brains for the devastation of mankind,
Seeking for happiness we lure ourselves to destruction,
Our granary can save us no more.
Blood is flowing without any reason,
And we will parish without aspiration.
The house is too small for hatred,
And the fields are too rugged for fighting,
The land is too limited for violent disputation,
The world is not big enough for waging war.
Reconciliation widens the house,
Kindness smoothens the field’s surface,
Peace broadens the land,
Love will conquer the world.
The guns and the cannons firing one another.
Death is blowing with the wind,
And the whirlwind carries venom.
We stumble; they fall,
We vanish; they too are no more.
Knowledge begets death;
Wisdom gives birth to vexation;
Power breeds terror.
Because of love there is hate,
Because of wealth there is poverty.
In the morning we are awakened with enmity,
At night we rack our brains for the devastation of mankind,
Seeking for happiness we lure ourselves to destruction,
Our granary can save us no more.
Blood is flowing without any reason,
And we will parish without aspiration.
The house is too small for hatred,
And the fields are too rugged for fighting,
The land is too limited for violent disputation,
The world is not big enough for waging war.
Reconciliation widens the house,
Kindness smoothens the field’s surface,
Peace broadens the land,
Love will conquer the world.
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