THE HOLLOW DAYS
Day 8: You are born only once

Oh Panduranga Panduranga, why no other places than Panduranga?
I was a bridegroom in Panduranga twice
Sung karaoke three times, wept four times, fought in drunkenness five times

Born in Panduranga only once.

Like before that my father was born or further into the past my grandfather
was born, grew up, and died
Like Panduranga with the sunlight from one thousand years ago
to million generations in the future
Where will be my children?

I have known love in Panduranga six times, and suffered the same number of times
The funeral pyre did not burn up your hair that afternoon
Tonight it boils in my breast

I have collapsed in Panduranga seven times,
and tried to get up reluctantly more than seven times.

Born in Panduranga only once.

Why not 600 years before or 700 years later, oh Panduranga?

Having great/small glories eight to nine times
Being ashamed beyond remembrance a dozen times
Helping people several times, receiving a favour from life a thousand times
Speaking stupidly, boasting / making poems and writing solemnly so many times
Undergoing hunger and thirst / feasting with satisfaction lots of times.

Living only once.

Being detached from and returning to Panduranga hundreds of times.

Being born and die, oh Panduranga only once.

Translated by Nguyen Tien Van