SHAMSUR RAHMAN (1929-2006) IS GENERALLY ACKNOWLEDGED TO BE THE GREATEST BANGLADESHI POET OF MODERN TIMES. HE WORKED AS A RADIO AND A PRINT JOURNALIST, RETIRING AS EDITOR OF A NATIONAL DAILY. HE PUBLISHED OVER SEVENTY VOLUMES OF VERSE, BESIDES A NUMBER OF PROSE WORKS AND WAS SHOWERED WITH HONOURS BOTH AT HOME AND ABROAD. IN 2001, HE BECAME THE FIRST RECIPIENT OF THE SAARC LITERARY AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT.

Freedom, You Are

Freedom, you are
Rabindranath’s evergreen verses
and timeless lyrics

You are Kazi Nazrul shaking his shaggy mane,
a great-souled man in the grip
of creative exaltation

You are the bright-eyed crowd
at the Shaheed Minar
on International Mother Language Day

You are the militant
flag-waving demonstration
resounding with slogans

Freedom, you are
the peasant’s smile
in a field of lush crops

You are the village girl’s
carefree swim across a pond
under the midday sun

Freedom, you are
the sunburnt biceps
of a young worker

You are the freedom fighter’s eyes
glinting in the dark
at the desolate frontier

You are the dazzling, sharply worded speech
of a bright young student
in the shade of a banyan tree

Freedom, you are
the stormy debates
in tea-stalls and on maidans

You are the drunken lashes
of summer thunderstorms
across the horizon

Freedom, you are
the broad chest of the shoreless Meghna
at the monsoon’s height

Freedom, you are
the inviting velvet texture
of father’s prayer mat

Freedom, you are
the undulations on mother’s spotless sari
drying in the courtyard

Freedom, you are
the colour of henna