Shower me with petals, <br />heap bouquets around me, <br />I won't complain. Unable to move, <br />I won't ask you to stop <br />nor, if butterflies or swarms of flies <br />settle on my nose, can I brush them away. <br /> <br />Indifferent to the scent of jasmine and benjamin, <br />to rose-water and loud lament, <br />I lie supine with sightless eyes <br />while the man who will wash me <br />scratches his ample behind. <br />The youthfulness of the lissome maiden, <br />her firm breasts untouched by grief, <br />no longer inspires me to chant <br />nonsense rhymes in praise of life. <br /> <br />You can cover me head to foot with flowers, <br />my finger won't rise in admonishment. <br />I will shortly board a truck <br />for a visit to Banani. <br />A light breeze will touch my lifeless bones. <br /> <br />I am the broken nest of a weaver-bird, <br />dreamless and terribly lonely on the long verandah. <br />If you wish to deck me up like a bridegroom <br />go ahead, I won't say no <br />Do as you please, only don't <br />alter my face too much with collyrium <br />or any enbalming cosmetic. Just see that I am <br />just as I am; don't let another face <br />emerge through the lineaments of mine. <br />Look! The old mask <br />under whose pressure <br />I passed my whole life, <br />a wearisome handmaiden of anxiety, <br />has peeled off at last. <br />For God's sake don't <br />fix on me another oppressive mask. <br /> <br /> <br />[Translated and Edited by Kaiser Haq from 'Selected Poems' of Shamsur Rahman.] <br /> <br />Not: Banani - An affluent suburb of Dhaka. It has a well known cemetery.<br /><br />Shamsur Rahman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/mask-73/
