Graveyard Underneath My Feet Poem by Shahabuddin Nagari

Stars will emit light, white clouds will float away
To the west. I’ll see with amazement. It would not happen now.
South wind will move mosquito net and touch my body
As if nature touch the nerves at the massage parlour
And relieves all the tensions. That does not happen either.
In closed room two of us every night hear people walk
We hear shrieks and weird painful moans from underneath
What’s there under the floor? Wife told me, We would not
Take the house for rent. Is there scarcity of house in Dhaka city?
Its difficult to get single unit house at such a rate!
It’s bounded by protected wall. A little courtyard with
Roses and marigold. Fragrance soothes the mind.
I comfort my wife. One day went to the landlord.
The aged man smiled, that’s why it’s so cheap.
Listen, nobody stayed more than a month.
I was insolent, why? My wife too was had thousands
Of questions in her mind. The landlord said,
I heard, it was a mass grave, unknowingly I built the house
Have you informed the government? At my question
He replied negative. I’ve invested a lot.
If government take it away I’ll be in great loss.
I and my wife discussed with the matter seriously,
Shall we leave it? I contemplated deeply whole night.
In the morning I hoisted a flag of Bangladesh
Without caring anything. Let’s face any coincidence!
From that day the flag is flying everyday. We hear no sound From underneath our feet. We, a man and wife,
With two children pass our days keeping a mass graveyard
Under our feet. We never forget for even a moment
This Bangladesh was a graveyard some day.