Beyond Land and Time

Along the Tram Line

(Trām Line)

Translated by Faizul Latif Chowdhury

I walk along the tram line: night now deep

I hear the teasing of some life of the past :

‘You are like a broken tram—

there is no depot, you don’t need wage

Alas, when has this occurred!’

That old life sinks behind

The star in the sky, in darkness.

Which way to go? The quiet city has not answer.

She is just spread over,

Like the God of the believer.

I bury my face in her lap—I want to

believe, I wish

If my soul could walk away leaving

Aside the city avenues.

Light from the gas lamps beacons

At the entrance of the saddened lanes

They resonate with Sankha’s wailing cries

I know them—like me they also know everything

That’s why so much dark, tired, cold

All these lanes.

Yet they do not move—lost in

            slumber, behind the stars

                        they take a break.

Who else will offer a recess?