( This is a poem I wrote and read during one of Rabindranath's
Birthday celebration.Originally it was written in Bangla)
Rabindranath
Rabindranath, I have written a poem
for you on your birthday,
a skeletal naked poetry.
I am sorry
I couldnt write a gorgeously dressed poem.
My poem is like a gangraped vietnamese
thirteen year old child,
the casualty of a war.
Rabindranath, You didnt see that,
I did, she was my daughter.
When six yearold girl was doused with petrol
and set fire
and her naked scream made even the
asphalts ashamed,I wept with her in my poem.
Rabindranath, You didnt see that,
I did
In a hospital bed on a white bed sheet
she was lying,
Thre was not asingle spot on her body
where her mother could put her embalming lips.
Rabindranath, you didnot see
her burnt butterfly lips,
I did
she too was my child ,
My poem is about that child and the
Grieving mother.
In the land of Gita Upanishad
a girl child is hurled by men
of a " GREAT NATION "
My poem is about the mother who
cried in helpless rage.
Rabindranath You didnt see that.
I did
How a single bomb destroy , and maim
the population of a nation generation
after generations
I did see that My poetry is about those mothers
who gave birth to disfigured babies
after long expectancy.
Rabindranath You didnt see
You didnt hear their helpless howl.
Rabindranath one Jaliwana bag made you angry
in protest you
refused to accept a Royal honour,
we thank you.
In a crowded Harrison road junction
one mother was stripped naked
by her sons who danced around her
in ecstatic laughter,
Rabindranath ,You didnt see that
I did ,
She was my mother.
Rabindranath, You cried so many times
in your life,
Rabindranath you made us cry
to heal ourselves,
You wrote beautiful poems
Poems of joy, of bliss of peace
You wrote poems of supreme consciousness
We Thank you
We thank you for the great honour
you brought to our nation
For all these
I present you today
a fleshless
Burnt
skeletal
naked
Poem
On your birthday
