The Cage / Abu Karim

I have lived long up to this age;

now I will surely break this cage.

I will turn my hands into two wings,

and fly away far following my free feelings.

The shackles of daily bondage

makes my head bow low in a cage.

Termites go on eating backbone making me ill,

my erect arms are perforated by a greedy drill.

When I came out of my mother’s womb to the ground

of this Bangladesh, among the swarms of population I found

myself; from that moment on before e cataract has grown rife,

and my legs are drawing rigorous loads of this drab life.

20 February 2004

‘খাঁচা’ কবিতার অনুবাদ

[Translated by Dulal Al Monsur]