July 14
'After Many Wars, Dawn Arrives Like A Consolation': Poems By Imtiaz Mahmud
Imtiaz Mahmud’s poems gained wide popularity in Bangladesh during the student-led mass agitation that toppled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government following intense and violent clashes. He published most of these poems on a social media platform, without any titles. Here is a selection of those poems, translated from Bengali by Sreemanti Sengupta
Artwork by Debashish Chakrabarty
Artwork by Debashish Chakrabarty
Horses are shackled as long as they can run,
They are free when they can’t
July 15
After many wars, dawn arrives like a consolation
What is light for you, is a wound for the sun
July 17
The lines on the palm predict
That ego shall sink the ship
July 27
Speak, oh stars! Speak, oh night!
Say that the ones keeping awake aren’t feeling right!
July 30
Fear rises at the sight of flowers
Courage soars at the sight of blood
August 2
There are some followers even for the ones who leap into the fire
The glow is a mirage, it still burns in disguise
August 6
Who destroys whom, in this river of hatred?
The wave that seeks to destroy the shore, destroys itself first
August 7
In this world, good times never come without a price
The leaf that dreamt of spring, in winter has an early demise
—(Sreemanti Sengupta is a Kolkata-based poet and editor)
Imtiaz Mahmud is a Dhaka-based poet
(This appeared in the print as '"After Many Wars, Dawn Arrives Like A Consolation"')
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