Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

Poetry Library Southbank Centre - The Poetry Library housing the Arts Council Collection at Southbank Centre

« Previous item
Contents of this issue
Next item »

Rashida Islam

print this page

Question (for International Women's Day)

I am a proud woman of this earth:
loving Mother, Sister, Beloved.
An ascetic’s statue in an evergreen wood,
I am a cluster of stars in night’s darkness.

Filling my sari corner, I brought gracious hope.
I have freely given love and abundant affection.
Neel-kantha-like, I have swallowed poison.
My sacrificial nectar has slaked Agastya’s legendary thirst.

I have heard that I am free, a free-living bird,
That is why I would sing freedom’s song;
I wish to move in step with everyone, to move in unison.
I am absorbed in the dreams shaped by a liberated mind.

Then why these impediments to my progressive plans?
Why am I a puppet on an invisible string?
Someone seems to play whimsical games with me.
String-pulled, I turn to cinders, my heart’s core burning.

Then what is this unfulfilled dream I see?
Will I awake at last, will I be free?
I have shot so many pointed questions at the Creator.
Like a question-paper in a test, He offers no answer.

Notes: Neel-kantha means ‘Blue-Throated’. Shiva saved humanity by swallowing the Serpent Vasuki’s venom; this sacrifice earned him the title Neel-kantha. Neel-kantha is also a small bird in the Indian sub-continent. Agastya was a famous sage.

Translated by Debjani ChatterjeeRashida Islam

Page(s) 50-51

Back to top