ABUL HASAN
Abul Hasan (1947-75) was one of the best loved poets of his generation. In his all too brief life he published four well-received collections. The Bangla Academy Award was given to him posthumously.
An Uncivil Philosophy
Buildings rise, that’s politics, buildings fall, that, too,
The fire axe cuts away the deodars, that is politics too,
It is because of politics that roses bloom and roses wither
It is also politics that people are being born and dying
Face down, helpless in the sun of youth
the sister is undoing her braids
Hiding the bees of her bosom in her hand – that, too, is politics
Because of politics the youths are going to pot, again
There are clashes, wars and tyrannies, the engulfing
blood of buildings
The pain of spattered semen, joyless copulation
Foetus running in women’s blood, again the fire
Is teeming in the guise of a crisis,
Yes, it’s politics,
nothing but politics!
Alone I am roaming the bloody streets of poverty with famine
in my pocket
I am starving to death, that is politics too, and
It is desolate all around now, choked with the
poisonous gas of anguish,
I am watching the snake dance of a sly fatal
snake woman
Is this politics too?
– A. B. M. Masud Mahmood with Tapan Jyoti Barua