Stone Song

Mohammad Shafiqul Islam

Does a stone know how monsters uphold their acts?

How does a stone feel when a human is killed?

Does the stone that has been left on the terrace

for many years know how many people have died?

Sometimes the kid who survived the carnage

hears a sound or two—women and kids groaning—

at night when everyone else is deep asleep.

He asks himself—what is the colour of despair?

 

One day the stone opens a door through which

the women and kids come out—the survivor watches—

turning into tiny birds and small flower trees.

Birdsongs, leaves keep the world of the agonized awake.

Since then people find a deep connection between

stones and songs, songs and birds, and birds and stones.