Mahmud Kamal. Eminent Poet teaches Bangla in a college in Tangail district.

Meter . . . casually

Raven has stolen our Rhyme away

Ends don’t rhyme anymore

Forms, betrayed and booed, lay on the side

In despair, sans rhythm

“Need a new perspective, a new theme”

Screams a new poet in his own, old land

With a hammer and . . . not a pen on him

Paper Queens sit right before their dressers

Offering a lot of nuances, nonsense and craft

And yet no rhythm or rhyme

The beauties are unscented, insipid delights

Displaying forms and formats

I want to snatch rhythm away from that cunning raven

And dress my beauty back to flesh . . . casually.

– Translated by Rubana