Shabdaguchha
Shabdaguchha
Baitullah QuadereeThe KingThen, we can say, tonight our king will be As great as your king in a secret mission— Conch-shells will be played, and the fireworks will sparkle— Brahma’s son will quietly stand in the hilly moon. Our king will secretly prevail over your king. The cow will wander through the lands, Or the tragic goat will cavort on the stage. To get them in your side, let’s catch the sparkling moonlight. Curiosity about the disguised life of Brahma and the grass In a bird’s egg! Let’s go to him. Let’s tell him in trinachiketon rhyme, I can play with fire, I can even burn the fire as the king With brute strength of an equine penis. In sandalwood scent and song, I am the high king In the exalted spirit— That’s because, tonight our king will become As great as your king. Seeing the bowing vapor and the charcoal, the depressed circle of it— We, too, become kings. We, too, become kings seeing the king’s face Engraved on a stone. Trinachiketon: a Sanskrit rhythmic pattern. Baitullah Quaderee (1968 - ) is the author of six collections of poetry. He is a professor of Bengali literature at Dhaka University. Dr. Quaderee got his PhD (2007) from the same university on Bengali Poetry of the 60s: Subject Matters and Techniques and received the Shabdaguchha Poetry Award (2003). Translated from the Bengali by Hassanal Abdullah |