A Living Thing Khairul Haque Chowdhury
On the thematic of Jibananda Das’ “Pakhi”
You are asleep after a long journey, Who should I tell – how am I stuck with an appalling astonishment? I’m talking about my discovery – the breadth and length of my discovery A note just received from the stars - you are not waking, Here is a bird sitting on my chest, Is it a bird? Or, is it a nearly extinct, red and blue butterfly? Is it a bird? Or, is it a lonesome firefly? It has covered itself with brown, golden and blue feathers, Comes to me in such a lonely cold night From which quiet string of grass has it originated? From which string of paddy has it originated? From the egg of a silk-worm has it acquired this weird pulsation?
On a moonlit night Who does he want to spend the night with? Does the lonely string of straw pain him? Is there anything without pain on earth?
No – a – his face glows with the unconquerable courage and positiveness; He knows no pain – he depended on the complexity of life Feathers – beaks – feathers These create his fantastic cape.
On a moonlit cold night He has to come to my grip Why do I hesitate to kill you when there are death-traps all around? I’m also sitting in the clasp of someone – Who will not hesitate to take my life anyway; I know I will not let you free by any chance; Yet, I do caress your wet and soft body, I see fear in your golden eyes; this bird – so tiny – yet, He learned – the greatest mystery of life – The eternal pain and the fear of demise of everything beautiful; There is no hope, no desire – Not even love and there cannot be dreams in our earthly life An eternally flowing sense of parting and bereavement looms all around; This painfulness resides in their chests as well; in their chests as well; Draped in the numberless deep coloured feathers; Why then his eyes look for the ocean of moonshine? Why do the golden eyes search for the ocean of moonshine? Why does he strive to understand the creation myth?
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