I carry them openly in these calloused hands and hold them out to you could you tell me I'm worthy of love

Wake me up every morning as dawn becomes a new day.

What motivated our youth to defy death in order to free Bangladesh from the yoke of a brutal regime?

A star fell on the ground in the windy night

Glamorous lightweight raindrops  from the October sky keep 

As if playing a game of chess / Still the world waits for the next dawn

The first pulse, in the midst of a whipping maelstrom, 

Don’t you see— I can only write dark. 

August, marked with dying things. Summer’s end, / My freedom spent

Eternity collapses at the wheel of change. / Past is lost

but i can't. i cannot be bothered to find / meaning behind the faults in my father's eyes

Hark! / Busy work of Hands

teardrops trickling down / the valley / mingling with the static— / hollow waves of Kaptai lake

Maa, you are an endless exhibition / of sweet-sour happiness

My train just started / I found my seat / When she called me

Was it a spectacle—filmed the whole incident? / Why didn’t you withstand? / Why didn’t you try to desist?

The night smoke carries out the riots of innocents,

Rose-tinted glasses are just red, and I have painted myself with the color now that the hollow of your eyes isn’t there, now that 

Somehow, the taste of tear gas

Translated by Mohammad Shafiqul Islam