flight. flee.

Forgetting

bemused it stands:
at the pedestal, in the story, out in the song

seeking wings, to crawl out of the hole,
to fill soil in the pipelines of history and
to breathe again
 
identities splashed across fences scream
to be torn down;
new plantations seeks slaves today.

yet

forgetting, in the dawn, wilderness stands
breathing heavily of agendas and porn



'Flight' and 'flee' are siblings born from the word 'fly' and yet, their plumages are very different. The act of flight (from the Old English fleogan) got confused with the act of running away (Old English fleon) in Middle English and 'flight' took on the onus of 'flee'. In Modern English, 'flight' exists in both normative forms, while the preterite marks the difference between an act of freedom and an emotion of freedom. 1 

Blessed peace, or s___

no, thanks. no food here. no food now.

empty thresholds suffer hunger

and missed good-byes.

"no one keeps promises"

any time of dreams and nightmares

yet, who remains hungry?

drains and constellations dig out the same blue filth

- all that truly is

                                                                

                                                                     framed.

casualties are a way
of breathing. some times
a soul or two. sometimes
a tangled breach.

the music sauces none. no one is living.
 yet.
  
After poem notes: It takes an ocean of suffering to forget. It only takes a death to remember.

© Susmita Paul 2013
This poem is under copyleft rights - which means it is free for sharing, distribution and adaptation. Please feel free to share this poem with your friends and family. The only recognition I seek is remembrance. Kindly leave a note/ a message/ a mail when you share/ distribute/ adapt this poem. 

Ekushe (the twenty-first): part 1

As part of a generation who didn't exist in 1952, 21st February has always been mystical. A band of young students voicing their society's rebellion against the forced enforcement of a language as the national language seemed surreal. In Presidency College, Calcutta, I used to participate in different writing programmes held on this date every year. But, the very fact of being in 2002/3/4 made the history of the date distant; yet, the idea created unfathomable bubbles in the mind then. It continued to do so for a long time.

Limbs like me? Volatile? Ignited ? Lamp by the cauldron that caught fire perhaps.

The fear of anything that doesn't conform to the mass has besieged the human mind for as  long back as history goes. In September, 1947 (Bangladesh was then East Pakistan) a booklet was published by a cultural society debating which language should become the state language of Pakistan - Bengali or Urdu. The opinion that Bengali remain a state language along with Urdu was not bizarre and irrational. With the overwhelming population in East Bangladesh (54 percent) being Bengali, it was not only a just demand but also a rational one.

The issue of language however never is an issue of language after all.Mohammad Ali Jinnah gave a speech at the Dhaka University Karjon Hall on March 4, 1948. It was on occasion of the convocation ceremony at the University. While Jinnah conceded the "right of the people of this province to choose Bengali as their official language if they so wished", he clearly stated that, "(t)here can be only one State language, if the component parts of this State are to march forward in unison, and that language, ..., can only be Urdu" (Ref). This was not the voice of the "friend" he claimed to be at the beginning of his speech. What could have been an innovative constitutional change instead became a political struggle in its own right.

Afraid of words I and you are. Scared to death that death will come. Words'll bring them?

On February 20, 1952, a day before organised student groups and political activists had called for a general strike, an order banning processions and meetings in Dhaka City came to force under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code.This was now an expression of political might and repression. On February 21, 1952, students meet at the Dhaka University premises to defy Section 144. And then what happened is not only unfortunate but inhumane.  

Put on that armour of pride and kill. It takes time to throttle lungs. Fire is pure. Rain!
 
The events of February 1952 was carried forward in spirit as Bangladesh fought its independence battle against Pakistan. Within a year less than two decades, Bangladesh won its independence.

It was long after the writing programmes at Presidency College on February 21st, that I came to know that in 1954 Pakistan recognised Bangla as a state language.  

Now you have a voice, so be quiet. Now you have a voice, I beg you, speak. Now, you have a voice, don't think of  rains any more.


Note:
To know about the timeline of the Bangla Language Movement, come here.

Itlaicised lines are parts of a poem I am working on.