Two Poems by Maruful Islam

Loneliness

The last traces of water evaporate from the beak of the wind

The weather, in inexplicable mysterious ways,

Gives birth to a different sun, again.

The ghost of majestic moonlight

Stands unguarded in its dusky robe,

                                Leaving behind the field of art

There's no reason to be afraid of darkness

Nothing to fear from earthquakes, storms or deluges

Yet the field, the river, the hills and the forest

And orderly day to day life are rattled

                                When horse hooves are heard at a distance.

A lonely man walks, covering his body

                                With the shroud of time

His eyes light up but soon lose their luster

As dreams are followed by nightmares

The field of grass he had left behind calls him.

He once lighted a lamp in the deepest crevasse of life

And saw with numbing wonder

How light revealed nothing but darkness.

Putting the shroud in the grave the lonely man walks

                                Retracing his footsteps.

The Family Bride

The family bride isn't afraid of the venomous snake

Or daunted by the untimely death of her partner

On the bridal bed.

She has turned herself into an expert sharp shooter

Who can stop her now on land, water or air?

When someone is pushed to the wall

Doesn't she  become an invincible wall herself?

And you know very well:

There is no weapon more dangerous

Than love.

Maruful Islam is a leading Bengali poet of our time.