Translated from the Bengali into English by Mohammad Shafiqul Islam
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Twenty-fifth of Boishakh Everyday
The vast architecture built after your firm conviction
Or prevalence of beautiful creations
Exceptionally designed just like terracotta—
A unique exhibition of tradition.
Mixed with thoughts and things, the static implications
Help life blossom
Touching mud and mind together,
Spreading over roots and reasons.
We pass our days this way
In search of the new way,
Not on the twenty-fifth of Boishakh only.
Those days and nights
Gradually
End up in twenty-fifth Boishakh.
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His Dreams
(Dedicated to Nazrul)
He dreamt to build a home
To live in harmony, thought
To bring all hearts into one
Opening all windows,
Enkindling a lamp of love
On the verandah.
The blind put fire door to door
Ashes of dreams fly in the burnt house
You keep your helpless eyes on –
Laments and agonies fall from the look.
Still a hundred years enkindle spirit
With new light of dreams,
For new birds in the gardens,
And in love of the magical map.
Tying love and rebellion in one string,
Who else could produce music
With worthy words and tune
This beautiful and magical way?
We look for the worker
Who can build a golden dream house
Working with emotion in streets and fields,
Walking a long way in weal and woe.
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Mohammad Shafiqul Islam, poet, translator, and academic, is Professor in the Department of English, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet
Illustration : Rajat
