I will fall asleep as the whimpering kids do
But breathing my final breath
Flowing from my mother’s hand, you will see verily.
Sk Kamarul Islam, a poet and writer from West Bengal, India, shares his poem
Hailing from Haturia, Bagnan of Howrah District, West Bengal, Sk. Kamarul Islam, a Postgraduate in Telecom Technology, and currently is working as a Locomotive Pilot for Indian Railways. His short stories, articles and poems have been published in magazines, websites and newspapers. He edited the weekly magazine ‘Uswa Express’ for several years. English booklets, ‘Unique Model’, ‘Desire’, and ‘Mistakes’, were released in 2012. His Bengali poetry collections are ‘Jora Bandil (Twin Bundles), ‘Probesh Pratikkha’ (Entry Awaiting), and Disha (The Direction). Collection of English poetry, ‘On and Off Track’ was published in 2024. Being involved in active social service, the sufferings of marginalized people left a direct impression in his writings.
An Unusual Prayer
You refused
Like my army commander
Turning down a leave request.
Only a note of ten, my dear daughter-in-law.
I never lied to you, you know.
Twenty-four seven, the oxygen mask,
I can’t take it anymore.
It’s tasteless and charmless to my lungs;
I’m earnest now bore.
At this age, I beseeched you,
I seek a little leeway for this time due.
I crave to buy only one cigarette.
Only one!
Won’t even know your husband and none.
You love me no less than your children.
But he who does not have a wife in his old age
Has no one in this world. Is it true? Anywhere written?
Then it’s okay discerning between a mother and a wife.
Come on, let’s drop.
It’s your gracious hand where there now lies my life.
What, why are you crying?
Remove from my face this tiresome mask covering.
Do that thing.
You wave your hand only.
I will fall asleep as the whimpering kids do
But breathing my final breath
Flowing from my mother’s hand, you will see verily.
What’s the purpose of the lungs doing more function?
Where there I have no chance to glance at
Even a single cigarette, my mother’s injunction.
But I rely on you, my dearest mother.
Please don’t cry any farther!
________________
