16 December 1971
Original: Abdul Mannan Syed
Translation: Mujib Rahman
I have a great memory of the day
Our town was replete with lot many flags
Upholding the colour of a red-and-green parakeet.
Amidst grey and ghostly-coloured darkness red-and-blue-and-green-and-yellow were sprinkled from some vast sparkling bowl of colours.
Our town was inundated with many colours.
People spilled into the street.
Unknown people were embracing one another.
Riding on roads I was roaming free.
There were smiling faces on roofs.
Rejoicing over a victory.
On roofs there were flags
Like red-and-green parakeets.
Trees were green like flags.
Flood of light was on roads.
Celebration of sound.
People were on foot – they do not know
Where they would go.
They were only walking.
Riding on roads I was roaming free.
Brownish grass was turning green before our eyes.
Dark-coloured trees were turning deep-green.
Lead-coloured sky was transforming bluest
From bluish.
Milk-white rays of the sun spilled out of the sky.
There had been no waterfall, yet some sound
Of waterfall filled our town.
After that when the night approached
The sun did not set on that day.
Who had ever seen such a milk-white night!
On that amazing night
The moon was beaming on the eastern sky,
The sun was shining on the western.
The firmament of Bengal had been filled with zillions of stars.
Who sleeps on such a blue-and-green night!
Riding on roads I was roaming free.
