(Translation of a Bangla poem by fellow poet Monija Rahman)
Drowning in the abyss of untasted wind
While for no reason feeling out of breath;
Ripping through the shackle of melancholy
With just the seasoned strength of my bare hands.
Riding on the swift and feathery whims,
The hamlet lying upon a river’s edge
Seems a moment’s flight of my silly thought,
Seems I can see the entire sky and beyond.
Skimming through the boundless joys of the world
In the maelstrom of passioned ecstasy;
Rising past the unclaimed Olympus Mons
With just the strength of my will, all alone.
Yet in the end just like the tragedy
Of Alexander the indomitable
Falling back to the real and mundane life –
Devoid of inspiration, full of strife;
Here the seeming truths seem to hold the sway
And the lost dreams keep dying everyday.
