Επιμέλεια: Εύα Πετροπούλου Λιανού
Bio: Ashraful Kabir is a bilingual poet, essayist, translator and literary critic based in Rampura, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He was born in Munshiganj district, Bangladesh in 25 December 1980. His native district is Hobiganj, Bangladesh. He has been writing poems since his school days and was deeply associated with literature. His poems and translations frequently appear in prominent national and international newspapers, literary journals, magazines, literary websites and anthologies. His poems are being translated in different languages. 04 (four) books on poetry of Ashraful Kabir have been published in Bengali language. They are: Ek Jhak Jonak (joint poetry collection, 2013), Krounchamithuner Kothopokothon (2017), Masterbari Station (2022) and Shitoshnoboloyer Gunjan (2023). His poetry is provocative, evokes postmodernism and spreads deep emotional feelings. Poet Ashraful Kabir is professionally a banker. He wants to furnish the world with the touch of poetry.
He can be reached at: [email protected],
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/asraful.rasel
Infinity
Come to the middle, middle of a wintry-night, and
Give me a warm-hug, a hug, but not mine
A bone-shivering hug of fog-sheet, into the open wilderness.
Come in due time in the early morning of November;
I shall show you all the colorfulness of life, the motionlessness
Of the trees, being silent, I shall show you the mid-winter obscurity.
Obscurity! yes obscurity is my everlasting companion!
Do not think about me, I’ve mixed myself with the abstract,
with the displacement period in the silhouette of waiting trees –
All of my appearances are exposed to the openness,
Openness to the flock of woodpeckers.
Hug! absolutely forgot! Days gone by – when I fell,
When I fell from the freshness of earth,
When I fell from the proximity of you,
I was broken, not- spontaneous.
All of you are enjoying the freshness of love, but I’m
Downtrodden and disheartened, lonely!
Ah, what an isolation! A great relief!
A relief for ever.
Dear, I am still waiting for your warm presence-
I am still waiting for your lively-touch
Come, if you have time once in a blue moon.
I was in the time of the snowy days, in the sunny days
Now my untimely-retirement! Make me forget
I can feel tired.
Don’t worry about me;
I’m waiting just like before,
Unsteady and non-stop though without happiness
Still waiting for infinity – second-minute-hourless.
Maple leaf
Open the window on a wintry morning
And delete all the imaginary draft-images from your mind
It is needless now to draw all the cuteness
To cover the whole page and dilly dally
Needless to make a tune of Beethoven.
Choose a new page
Use all the new colour pencils if needed;
Apply all the techniques that once you learned
Don’t worry; new images will fill up the gap
In combination with the old harmonies
Just to wait!
Change the shell in the spring to the seasonal excuse
Go to a new path in search of a new forest
Complete your course once hankered after
And spend the life drinking it to the lees.
Amid the Maple-wrapped gray street –
Just give a regular footprint quietly
Spend a few moments more with the falling leaves;
And with the touch of flattened-papyrus-bark
Repay all the debts of negligence.
