Second Ode to Grass
Ochirbatyn Dashbalbar
translated by Jessica Madison Pískatá
Grass will grow, covering all worlds
Growing, it will rise as a green flame
Together multitudes will pick up the sunlight.
Grass will grow like an itch in the body.
In the daylight, grass will clamor like all humankind…
The grass is steeped in the steadfastness of the world
Crushed by a wagon wheel, it will nevertheless stand straight up again
And through its abundant grace, everyone can re-unfurl that ecstatic moment
When they took their first steps, and pulled themselves to standing with fistfuls of grass.
Alongside humankind, grass overcomes repeated calamity
During such eras, we die and are refreshed together
Grass too falls by the scythe of bitter war
Grass too stands up in the midst of smoke and wildfire
And will never abandon its place upon the earth!
With my ancestors, grass has died and disappeared
But the earliest grass generation is still swaying in the world …
Even though there is no space left, and pavement covers the world
The extraordinary grass will make a protest
Will break apart the calcifications of rock and stone
And stand up like a hero.
Standing up from the darkness, the grass will impale all roads
With its tender newborn body and like an imaginary dream
It will grab at the sunlight.
I will sing the praise of the grasses with all my might!
The grass will grow and also crack that mountain’s peak
The grass will grow and also populate the bottom of the ocean sea
While we both have life, grasses and people will be familiars
And support one another in growing up beneath the distant stars.
They will become the closest of kin!...
Ochirbatyn Dashbalbar (1957-1999) was born in the former Mongolian People’s Republic. He is one of the most celebrated poets in contemporary Mongolian literature. Read more.
The poems from “Ode to Grass” are abridged versions, whose full texts can be found in the magazine Sapiens.