Lovely Birds Poem by Abul Kayyum

Poor water body
Does not know the task of assassin,
Does not know the nature-killin’,
But only knows her lovely birds
knows her lively birds

No flock of wild birds are there.
No fock of guest birds are seen,
Who’ll rouse her by raising wave?
The body is deadly covered by loss,
Who’ll save her to the trim?
The body is badly covered by moss,
Who’ll clean her to her teen?

Have they not been exhausted by fire,
Or by arrows, bullets?
Or, have they fled elsewhere
To break the cherry of alien water?
Her tender heart
Is now a den of worms.
The swarm, full of dirt,
Is full of mosquitoes’ herds
And cobweb grows in her bud of lilly
To make her silly
And ask the question -
Where are the birds?

She put on lotus earings
And gawdy
necklace of hyacinth
In swollen body.
Her sari is ornamented
With the patterns of red
Flower and green weed creeper
But there is nobody, no bird
To see her
And to break the herd
Of the worms
In this waiting swarm.

Let the wild goose come
And the crane and dove
Let her fill the heart
With their drops of love.