Leaves Fall Down / Abu Karim
Someone is standing under the shade bowing his look low.
In front of him some dry leaves drop on air, one or two-
in a very slow motion of falling.
Many sleepless nights have been passed
with the ruminating of disheveled memory.
Then eyes sore; as if the barren and doleful field
were stuck inside them.
Within the wink of an eye
the lonely, wagtail bird of far away childhood sat down
with its numb wings;
or another moment comes down like a shadow spreading its tail.
In the evening in some restaurant with sparse customers,
two sitting face to face, at the middle, green table, black coffee,
on the blood red wall- shadows of two persons.
Green and black express life on both sides;
at the middle place love.
A coral island inside the furnace.
Someone is lonely even in the midst of touch;
one or two leaves in air
Falling very slow.
Leaves drop down; shadows drop down; the sun drops down.
Only a lovelorn hand keeps holds on the stream
of these falling memories.
This arm holds up the fall of the earth.
December 28, 1973
‘পাতা ঝরে’ কবিতার অনুবাদ
[Translated by Dulal Al Mansur]