30r364 boek.qxd:awards book 11 - Prince Claus Fund

LoveWhen my beloved diedI felt as if my body’s garment –had been dispensed with!My flesh, my skin, all peeled off.The garment was gone!I heard the crumbling soundof the skeleton inside meand could smell the dust ofmy own bones.Oh friend! If at all you ownthis garment, take care!Hold it tight!Remember you will survive thedownward slashing knife!Like the sun it bestows light!Like the Banyan tree it cools youwith its shade!Like the water it quenchesyour thirst!Like blood it flows in your vein!Oh friend keep this garmentWith care!If it is with you – the horror of deathwill not appear any time!Death will not then beAn unknown stranger to you!Love is that garment!We hunters try to huntin every moment, every hour of our lives!It seldom comes with theblessing of that unknown God,whom we have never seen!If you are wearing that garment!Try to hold it tight!Because once you care to wear itDeath will not be a stranger to you!(Indira Goswami, translation of ‘Prem’ in: Pain and Flesh,New Delhi: BR Publishing Corporation, 2007)40 2008 Prince Claus Awards