The life of a pirate is not so dangerous
nor is a bashup in a police lockup
spying too is not very dangerous
to be woken up in the middle of the night
by the secret police
I admit is nerve wrecking
so is the quiet lonely fear
which follows you
and throttles your chest
when you are locked up in a cell
on a framed up false charge
for a crime you did not commit
all this I admit is bad enough
but all these are still not so dangerous
because the most dangerous thing is
to live like a dead man
when you don’t feel any thing
when the routine of daily life saps you totally
the fixed life of
home to work
work to home
that is a life without dreams
that is the most dangerous thing
that is when
the hour is alive and kicking for everyone
excepting for you
that life is the most dangerous thing
because
like the eyes of a dead fish
you stare at everything
but cannot feel anything
about yourself
or about others
that’s why
the most dangerous are those people
who have forgotten how to love people
for such people
live and shift aimlessly
in the ordinary humdrum orbit of their lives
in which nothing happens
nothing moves
like a placid cemetery
these people
are like that cold blooded moon
which feels nothing
no pain, love, sympathy or revulsion
when it goes over the courtyards
of the innocent victims
butchered in a slaughter
the most ugly sight is
that of a debauched old man
who is trying to sing a melody
but only succeeds in racking his weak chest
So the most dangerous life is the one
in which our conscience doesn’t prick you
because your soul is dead
that’s why I say
piracy is not so dangerous
spying is not so dangerous
bashup in a police lockup is not so dangerous
the most dangerous life is...
Translated by Suresh Sethi
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