A Prayer for My Daughter

(With due respect to W. B. Yeats)

Dear Shyamoli,

Mere prayer won't do.

Act.

Send our child

to a martial arts academy

along with that, send her to school,

when she's five:

so that rickshaw pullers,

hawkers, shopkeepers, teachers

can't get away teasing or assaulting.

Teach her how to react

and share it

amongst the family.

Raise her strong—

in order that she can fight

four-five hyenas

on a running bus

or when they will

attempt to set her on fire 

so that as a father

I don't have to endure

dirty mockeries of the constables.

Once more the storm is howling,

let's pray

for the safety of our daughter!

Md. Mehedi Hasan is a poet whose works have been published in The Daily Star, The Daily Observer, The Independent, The Wagon Magazine (Chennai, India), Arts & Letters- Dhaka Tribune.