Moontree Poem by Sajjad Sharif

I forbade you to leave, but
you
didn't listen
you flew all night
from one sky to the other
you
didn't take me on your back
O dark one
you are some tall deodar tree
you
heard the angel of death crying
as night sentries hooted their signals
and
saw in a flash all the corpses
from the past
coming back to life
rising from the depth of tomorrow
you
do not want
to be a tree
but today
I
want to be born
from your roots
Translated from Bangla by Syed Manzoorul Islam