Into the desolate depths above
(For Akhtaruzzaman Elias)
Naeem Hassan, (translated by Mirajul Quayes)
"Some deaths are light, like a bird's feathers
and some others are heavy, like the Siamese highlands."
--Mao Tse TungThere is silence, a very still silence and all around
is shuttered, stifling
The wind is almost at a standstill
this deep desolate night
On the table some medicine, a carafe of water, black spectacles
and a glass turned over
The crutch reclines on the wall, lifeless, lonesome. Shadows shiver almost imperceptibly in the
mohur gardens
Faces huddle, anguished from some unknown fear This hand cannot hold back even a small bit
Like a pebble pitched in the water, the full-throated madrigal
is suddenly lost in the devouring river
and a night-blind bird sings the song of a mountain spring
and flies off into the desolate depths above. Naeem Hassan is editor of the literary magazine Nirantar. Mijarul Quayes is an occasional writer/translator.
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