I go to a tree and say: <br />Dear tree, can you give me a poem? <br />The tree says: If you can pierce <br />My bark and merge into my marrow, <br />Perhaps you will get a poem. <br />I whisper into the ears <br />Of a decaying wall: <br />Can you give me a poem? <br />The old wall whispers back <br />In its moss-thickened voice: <br />If you can grind yourself <br />Into the brick and mortar of my body, <br />Perhaps you will get a poem. <br /> <br />I beg an old man <br />Bending on my knees: <br />Please give me a poem. <br />Breaking the veil of silence, <br />The voice of wisdom says: <br />If you can carve the wrinkles <br />Of my face onto your own, <br />Perhaps you will get a poem. <br /> <br />Only for a few lines of poetry, <br />How long must I wait before this tree, <br />In front of the crumbling wall, <br />And the old man? <br />How long will I be bending on my knees? <br /> <br />[Translated from the Bengali by Syed Najmuddin Hashim]<br /><br />Shamsur Rahman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/for-a-few-lines-of-poetry/
