Wings of ash

the city holds its breath
if only
if only
it could undo
a broken wing
a lullaby
never sung—
fireflies
now light
in the smoke
beneath the smog
their echoes drift
through tattered alleyways
where shadows shift
and for every grave
a firefly burns
and for every grave
Dhaka never learns

Adnan M S Fakir is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex.