A Birthday Letter Poem by Sofiul Azam

As you don't want me anymore to wish you a happy birthday,
I'll be far apart as a beggar dressed in rags from a happy carnival.

Get to the party as soon as you can, leaving me hungry by the street,
and I assure nothing gets leaked to a tabloid's hot gossipy pages.

I'm darn right every feud has already cleared up from sight
and you've started over again with something new.

And I'm a husk without the grain inside it - a lot spent on such waste.
And for this, I'm glad to see some regret flicker across your face.

My strayings from you always get me more grounded in the long haul.
I'll be glued to the memory of you for as long as I breathe.

At times when I was easy to be around, I thought you thought
that seeing the world only through my scribbles is a pleasure trip.

Just when my chest was there for you to cry on, you smiled.
As tears fell and my river rose, I sank, you waved at me from its bank.

Yes, I know the romance or what's left of it thins out.
But my heart, a garbage heap, has thickened with your neglect and unlove.

I'm something of a letter not worth unsealing for a simple go,
and I won't put you through cleaning up such garbage like this again.

Please get the love mailed off back to my heart if you can
and don't think over how an ice-cube like me is thrown to melt and vanish.


from SAFE UNDER WATER (2014)