America
Imtiaz Mahmud
Dear America,
You wanted to know about
The crows living in front of my home.
It is true that I have some insomnia.
But the crows are not responsible for this.
They are of mild nature and in other words
they don’t crow at all.
Yours,
Imtiaz Mahmud
(P.S. After taking the sleeping pills you sent, my sleeping hour has reduced to one and a half hour.)
Two.
Dear America,
After taking the medicines you sent
My eye lids are moving towards my head. The crows
Are not crowing. Hearing that you might
Send eagles, they have sworn not to
crow in life anymore . You need not to send eagles.
Yours,
Imtiaz Mahmud
Three.
Dear America,
The eagle you sent us
We have kept him carefully.
He sleeps in our cot. He gave me
due advice on how to sleep in the floor.
Yours,
Imtiaz Mahmud
Four.
Dear America,
After the coming of the eagle, the crows
are crowing much. At the noise
of their crowing, in the whole locality no one
can sleep. Despite we are leaving no stone unturned in caring the eagle. All of our
paddy fields are at his hold.
On behalf of the locals we are requesting you
to give us a little portion of it.
Yours,
Imtiaz Mahmud
Five.
Dear America,
Our whole city is afflicted with
insomnia. The crows are more powerful now.
They are also taking training under an eagle.
and it is heard that it is nearly like ours.
Yours,
Imtiaz Mahmud
(P.S. After taking new medicine our eyes have become a graveyard.)
Translated by Alamgir Mohammad: Lecturer, Bangladesh Army International University of Science and Technology.
