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A volume of translations from Rahman's work, sponsored by the SAARC foundation for literature, headed by Ajeet Cour and her daughter Aparna Cour.

Excerpts

Hidden Treasure

		tr. Kabir Chowdhury

These days everyone behaves with me in such a way
that I feel sorely tempted
to lie down on my bed,
       turn my face away from the world,
and go to sleep for seventy-two hours at a stretch
with my side-pillow clutched to my breast.
Or, I feel tempted to walk into a police station
and sit there day and night,
or, take into my arms some crazy fellow,
call him a noble friend of the poor,
and murmur meaningless inanities .

These days everyone behaves with me in such a way
as if I had struck someone on the head,
or, gate-crashing into a wedding party,
suddenly set fire to the bride's beautiful dress,
or, at the sight of a dead body
               on its journey to the graveyard
suddenly burst out laughing
and unzipping my trousers started to piss
in the midddle of the main street.

I did not rob any bank,
I did not hijack any car at midnight.
So why should everyone look at me
       in this fashion?
Come, look carefully - I have no wen
        on my forehead
Alas, am I then Quasimodo,
embarrassed every moment by the hump
on my back, ever-weary ringing the bell
          with no rest?
I am no thief or swindler.
Look, dont set any spy on my trail
       for nothing.
Please keep the prison-dock away from me.
Record my confession here and now:
I have hidden in my breast a rare treasure,
the face of my beloved.
                                                p.64

--- other poems
a silent witness 71
as a matter of fact 74
on being held up 89
it is always like this 83