Shabdaguchha
The International Poetry Journal in Bengali
Translated Poetry
9th Issue
July-Sept 2000
From Barishal to Briarwood:
Bengali Poetry in English
Mohammad Nurul Huda (1949-)
From: Dravidian Darling, No. 17
Like a vast whale a new island will surface
Tonight on the sea.
Gradually its land mass will grow and expand.
Rows of green trees will appear,
And forests with twittering birds,
And prosperous habitations--
All will grow by degrees,
You, too, were an adolescent girl once,
Now you are a full-blooded young woman.
Listen there; listen to the sound to marching men.
Today an endless procession will go to that island.
Finally one has to merge with that strange crowd,
With those men and women who have no home
Or people of their own.
Come, let us accompany them.
O my Dravidian darling, submerged in water,
Let us now begin our sojourn
Each linked to the other.
Translated by Kabir Choudhury
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Shabdaguchha, A Journal of Bengali Poetry, Published in New York, Edited by Hassanal Abdullah.