Mon Semblable

This is a poem by Bangladeshi contemporary poet Masud Khan.  A friend of mine and I have recently transalated this for an anthology.

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Mon Semblable By Masud Khan

Translated By: Luna Rushdi & Subrata Augustine Gomes 

Plasm-for my soulmate.

My friend.

Longing for the unseen and the unknown,

Flamboyant and faraway,

Who resides in an unknown world,                      

And from him, in rhythmic irregularity,

Come floating sweet news and dusk breeze,        

Provocations and indulgence,                                         

Submissions and patronization-mild-

Or a horizon-spanning, sun-drenched colonization.

And some songs, a few lines,

A bit of beauty and a bit of life,

All of these that float in

Vibrating like the smooth quivering on the gramophone needle

They swim in the wind making subtle waves

My friends live in cities far away from me

Only

One lives by a riverside.

On it's tinsel-clad bend in a foreign land -

My friend resides beside a river.

His land shimmers in the distance

Like a twinkling fairytale -

My friend resides beside a river.

I have no home today, my friend,

And an unquenchable home-thirst is in my mind.

Should I take flight to your land someday?

Or

Would you yourself draw me into your custody?

I know, one day you will draw me in

Your comfortable custody and domain,

Your patronage and care will drench me thoroughly

Like sweet summer rain.

Ah!

Where did such a golden friend I gain?

From the sweet-fields of your realm

Whiffs a breeze spreading a magical calm.

And an unknown rapture makes my feathers tremble.

You sent me a message at the hour of dusk        

Full of signs and symbols,

Some of it I get through the mail,

Some via the gusty info-winds, with clouds on their tail -

Ah! My friend's sent sweet news through the info-gales!

A wind of provocation, this, I understand.

Let's exchange in a whimsical instance

Embers and fire.

These desires, the message inspires.

By a riverside, my friend stands.

This unseen unknown friend of mine,

Keeps me enthralled in symbols and signs

Under the sky, not a single soul I find

And such a great kin-thirst is in my mind!

In warp and woof and sport and play

I bravely transgress the delimiting line -

And you are my only family now -

Lo! My friend wears a colourful scarf this day!

I know, one day you will draw me in

Your comfortable custody and domain,

Your patronage and care will drench me thoroughly

Like sweet summer rain.

But before that, my friend

I bid you dissolve, if only for a day,

In this poem of mine,

In its governance, pampering and play.

Only for a day, become a docile boy,

Then leave me behind, like a forgotten toy.

Then onwards, be again, dear mate

Your isolated and evasive self for as long as you may.

Only for a day,

Addicted to and obsessed by my lay,

Be a kite in flight and let

Your shadow sway.

In a different world, a different river bend,

Resides my friend.

Through the blurring fog shimmers his land

Like a flickering fairytale

The friend that resides beside a river

Suddenly the land of origin is full of landslides

On shaky ground, helplessly, I cry.

Broken branches, rusty body

And dusty sallow leaves

Birds disowned me a long time since.

Yet,

That I stand and wait in misty solitude

On this polluted day

Is because of your indulgence.

Because of such rare indulgence as you send

This poem finds its sustenance.

My friend directs the rivers.

All the rivers standing still

Find their current at his will.

These simple clues, plain words of yours and mine

That are choked beneath the suffocating knots of data

Will soar above the meaningless ado.

These rotting days will come to a halt.

Like fireflies on a dark night our words will glow.

At an exact moment, on the very same day

You and I will fly high above the clouds

Leaving behind this shell of a life

And all our worldly doubts.

All the splendid monuments and the godly vessels

Of the said "civil" world will lie awry.

These vessels will be shattered, the monuments upturned,

Masterpieces dispersed and burnt

In horrors of time and agitation and strife,

Caught up in the protocol of the punctuating crowd

We will slowly evaporate into thin air

On the bank of the dusk river, on the verge of dusk langue,

In the dusk channels of the vivid evening clouds.

And as we move from one departure to another,

We will change one by one

The scenes, the symbols, the colours and the tones.

Riding thoughtlessly

The peaks of radio waves, we shall

Spread our wings into the outer world

At an exact moment, on the very same day,

You and I will fly high above the clouds,

We'll leave behind this shell of a life

And our worldly doubts.

This unseen unknown friend of mine

In a vivid mantle keeps me entwined.

Let's direct the rivers to their proper paths,

You and I, as we bid goodbye to the earth.

All around us so many rivers are standing still!

All the great risings are today

On the banks of the frozen rivers lain-

With a single fillip, let us melt

The frozen rivers back to life again.

A different world, a different river bank,

By a riverside, my friend resides.

Through the blurring fog shimmers his hand

Like a flickering fairytale.

The friend that resides beside a river.

Through the ages, You and I,

Behind the common eye,

Through wires of rivers,

Channels of the sky

Have laid the paths of contact everywhere.

Thus, including this poem, might

My friend and I be considered in riverine light?