The Walls of Our Town

All these years walls of our town

stood tall,

home to white-winged birds,

nostalgic sun,

tales too deep for us to tell;

last night walls came down

crashing,

hydraulic hands went mad ripping,

no keening no mourning,

only silence supreme reigning

over modernized graveyards,

new roads are hewn clean through

bleeding hearts,

new people walk new roads

suitably clad,

speaking of powerful mandarins;

the walls of our town once

stood tall,

now in the debris of collapsed walls

in nooks and crannies,

at tipsy midnight rendezvous

beside dim-lit shanties,

motley crowds talk of fiscal year,

of money spinning jennies.

The walls of our town once

stood tall,

now they lay like

turtles upturned,

the hush of holy secrets,

our everyday life

forever gone...

Yasif Ahmad Faysal teaches English at the University of Barishal.