Rafiq Azad

 

Those Armed Handsome Men

 

 

Some day it would all start stinking,

meat, fish, fruits, sweets and all,

kept in refrigerators

of these gay civilized gentlemen.

 

Some day they would come,

they sure would,

I can hear them already,

beware gentlemen,

I’ve been waiting for them for a long time,

 

They would come barefoot

and then your smooth stupid faces

lit up by the glare of a selfish civilization

would turn pale and wan

a sacred hatred would flay your shiny skin ;

sworn enemies, those handsome armed men

would crush your made up faces in anger.

 

Your contemptuous, lumpy bodies would be

trampled under foot.

Redolent with youth, those faces

with their big chest and hefty thighs

would dance a dance of death and destruction,

raze your sham lives to dust.

Your sophisticated warbling

would be ravished under their hairy breasts.

 

O you softy, weak, lean, frustrated

stupid gentlemen,

listen carefully,

from the crown to the kitchen wares

all your property

would go under their control.

 

They would come,

sure they would,

I can hear them already,

beware gentlemen,

I’ve been waiting for the thrust of the primordial sun,

semen of handsome armed men

would bring about your down fall.    

 

                                         Translated by M. Harunur Rashid

 

 

Rafiq Azad (1943--) Poet. Poetry : Asamvaber Paye (1973), Simabaddha Jole Simita Sabuje (1974), Chunia  Amar Arcadia (1977), Sashastra Sundar (1982), Bhalobasar Kovita (1983), Premer Kovita (1975), Ek Jibane (1983), Haturir Niche Jiban ( 1984), Khub Beshi Dure Noy (1986), Apar Aranye (1989), Paglagarod Theke Premikar Chiti (1995), Kanthe Tule Ante Chai (1996), Birisiri Parba (200). Awards : Bangla Academy Award-1981, Lekhak Shibir Award-1977, Alaol Award-1981.