laments

the way a wife slapped by her drunken beast of a husband

howls

the way a disheveled girl repulsed by a lecher’s probing tongue

shrieks

the way Amena, sweaty and distraught, hands blood-spattered from breaking

bricks

wails

the spring tide rises, an owl’s hoot fades in the depth of night

sandalwood glows on the pyre, clouds swallow the full moon of Asharh,

* * *

scraps of iron are hammered flat over a red-hot

fire

kindled by fire-mantras, pyres burn down to ash

our primeval mother

is stretched over dead coals, flowing hair and flesh

consumed

a million fire-needles stitch through trailing saris

through gutters

through blind alleys in the burnt-out sockets of the constellations,

* * *

Padma, Meghna, and Mayurakkhi toy with fate

tossing dice

a cunning princess shakes loose her thick plaited

hair

tossing a seductive noose around every neck

her lips scorch with curse-kisses of molten lava

tongues lap blood from poisoned manholes

in corpse-choked witches’ cauldrons water boils

flesh

bloodied sweat and powdered mud smear the age-old future,

* * *

the nameless past slips away on the ebb tide

barely awake

mudflat homes are swallowed by the water sorcerer

the blaring

fanfare of progress carries silt, quicksand

seven hundred thousand

acres of soil and seed, water and wind, clouds and rain

torrents gobble up everything in one gulp, cackling and shrieking like witches

rabid, ravenous for meal of human heads

tasty

female flesh, especially breasts and succulent thigh bones

stinking

bits stuck to dribbling lips—such morbid

melas

happen only once in a long while, when there’s enough demand or

cash

pay it off fast, reduce the debt to

zero

until the new-rice festival, the last day of the month

or the market fair,

* * *

hopeless sighs

in the crush of the marketplace someone’s shaking a rattle—cheap nose rings

shiny baubles in rainbow colors

baskets of bangles on display, a pair of performing snakes

sly snake charmers, no saviors among them—as the world comes to an end

salvation is a matter of trading in flesh—or humankind

make-believe do-gooders masquerade

smugly

exploiting beggar women, muttering the mantra: principal and interest

ay

a Vaishnavite, sacred marks on her forehead, abandoned her village long ago

today

a beggar’s bag in one hand and the remnants of modesty in the other

clutching

her flapping anchal over her drooping breasts

teeth

flash in a tangle of vines, brambles, and creepers

a snake,

* * *

rheum

ruined eyes, ten fingers ripe with leprous

ulcers

sewers like dormant volcanoes brimful with lava, putrid with 10,000 years of

shit

squealing

bawling of a pig or a scrawny old ox, throat cut

wages

for digging ditches all day: a handful of rice—the foreman puffs on a biri

at night

he seeks Rahima’s shack and sucks ambrosia from her battered breasts

heaven

will be dammed off from hell, heaven on one side

an eternal

cauldron of fire on the other

mudslides

shatter every last rib across boundless fields or

inBagdi

slums, in marshes, swamps—with the piercing call to morning prayer Rahima’s

eyes

open wide—back and forth an old turtle shell

rocks,

* * *

no

more cheap rides across the river, walk straight

ahead

knock at the doors of hell

if

they don’t open, push hard

use your lathi, cry and cry face in your hands till you’re

gasping with grief, let loose torrents of tears

fire

heaven and hell are burning, water woven with flames

and so

heaven will be dammed off from hell

behold

you’ll be raped—Pandava warriors break through the

barricades

the head Kauravas have fled to the forest, spears and axes over their

shoulders

they’ve run away—Krishna’s words of encouragement, love’s plaintive appeal

an enticing crown

a seductive flute’s plangent melody—trying to keep

time

is absurd—now there’s nothing but buying and selling, rice and dal

paying in cash is all that matters

Pandavas and Kauravas alike reach for their wallets,

* * *

cry Bangladesh, cry

raise the flag, who knows

how far away good times may be

though launched

the peacock boat is stuck in the

mud

optimism is a liar’s game—the vermilion in your part is crumbling

now the rivers cry too

keep on crying, turn to ashes

rip off the veil of centuries, learn to stand on two

feet

let the water sorcerer’s curse be purged by fire.

Jahangirnagar, Savar, 1989

কাঁদো বাংলাদেশ, কাঁদো first appeared in মেঘে এবং কাদায় (In Mud and Clouds, 1991).