ONCE MORE IN PEACE
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
The whole city is deep into sleep
During the late hours of winter night
Freedom is just on the other side of these Iron bars
Through these cruel Iron Bars I look into the unknown future
Uncertainty rocks me from deep inside like a sudden Tsunami
I can hear the roar of the mighty wave, as if they were the sound of my heart beat
Suddenly, my childhood, my boy hood and my youth project before me like the celluloid in a theatre
Only a few days ago; a whole year faded away from the pages of the Calendar
Just a few days back, my mother left this world, saying me nothing at all
Wasn’t I lucky enough even to bade farewell to her with my tears
In my distress moment, I look for my mother in my daughter
My mother is gone somewhere, far away from the sight, far away from this earth, even far away from my knowledge
All I can feel is the silence of the place where my mother should be in my solitary prison cell
In my solitude, in the unfinished canvas of my remaining life, I wish to draw the picture of the peaceful life we perhaps live for
In the darkest nights, I can see the stars rather are much brighter
But I see "the pigeon" being crashed in the claws of the devils
In the breeze can smell the odor of gun powder
They do not want peace! They want destruction, anarchy, they want human corpse
For, they are human like vultures
O’ the lord of the Universe! How dirty their mind might be, but, not mightier than you!
Let us all, children of Adam, Children of Abraham live the rest of our lives on earth together: once more in peace
(Amen)