If There is Death, Certainly | Taslima Nasrin (Trans.)

If certainly there is death
If it waits near, near a bush, like a hunter
Behind the door, on the roof, in dark alleys,
In the crossing where four roads meet,
If it will certainly come
Why not today!
When I shall stand on the balcony in evening alone
No one shall look for me
No one shall call from the inner room
No one shall come to touch my shoulder with his hand
No one shall say, “See! What a beautiful moon.”

If everything, we have, is for the hands of death
Why not today!
Let him come today
Let him finish my uncalculated family with nothing and nothing
Today and once for all!

Indian Review | Translator |  Kousik Adhikari