TABASSUM TAHMINA SHAGUFTA HUSSEIN

TABASSUM TAHMINA SHAGUFTA HUSSEIN

LOVE CAME SILENTLY

Love came to me silently,

He came tip toe.

He came to me,

But I failed to catch glimpse of him.

The night he came,

I was in the darkness,

But breeze didn’t whisper to be about his presence.

I couldn’t understand his love,

I failed to return him back.

He came to me as a light,

As a smile in my desert life,

He put the colours on me

I shinned more and more,

I glowed with the blush

I heard the breeze as music.

Yet I failed to understand.

Now, he is gone

He feels like dream,

He seems like distant illusion.

But he was real,

I saw his smile, care and glare.

Now he is gone.

I am left empty  only with the darkness to talk to.

I keep calling him to be back again.

But  I find my calling coming back to me as echo.

He eludes me like a  mirage.

I console myself and say what is stored for me in fate,

I knew and know always I will have to accept unconditionally.

Note: It is poem based on experience.

Commentary :In the poem the narrator personified love as her love or infatuation or a crush. She realised only after he is gone her infatuation was in fact love. But it’s too late. She failed to understand his love. She tries to defend or tries to solace herself she was not told by breeze. But her stating implies that her life was like a desert. He bought joy, colour and blush. She mistook as infatuation. Again she says that she saw his glare and care. So it was not her imagination. He was not a dream or illusion. It was two sided interaction. He was real. Now he is gone, she is left with love for him in darkness. Why she took clear signs of love as  infatuation is open to readers for interpretation. May be both their subconscious made them to see that way. Or consciously they saw it as infatuation because either one or both were in a relationship. Or may be society and circumstances lead them. And may be they knew their love is unattainable. Her solace to herself that it is stored in fate implies to such possibilities. I leave it to readers to interpret.

THE LOVERS NOT REMEMBERED

If I  pen your name  on the paper

Paper can be torn off

If I write your name on the stone

The stone will be diminished one day.

I will engrave your name in the heart

And it will remain so.

One who has heart,  falls in love,

Love comes to each  in a lifetime.

Who else thought that Juliet ‘s love for Romeo

Will become a love story and remain so

For years to come.

The love is deep where is no language,

Only eyes speak to each other,

In silence and among the madding crowd.

Behind the eyes of the many the silent unspoken love of the two

Will flow silently under the grave.

No shrine will be there to commemorate their love,

Lovers won’t pay visit.

Songs won’t be written for them.

There will be no tales of love.

Birds will be chirping about the unrequited love,

Butterflies will think of them.

Their unspoken love will echo in the winds.

The untold story will be unknown to many.

Not all love story becomes legends and folklore.

Note :The poem is a tribute to the nameless lovers who haven’t become legends.

Commentary: The poem opens with the urge to take love as a matter of heart and mind. Because paper, rock or materialistic things are subject to decay. The narrator gives reference the love of Romeo and Juliet. The love expressed, bloomed and ended in tragedy. It became legend. Then the love focuses on the unspoken love n, the love transpired between the two with the languages of the eyes. The unrequited love of the two departed with them silently. But the narrator imagines that even Beyond the grave the love will continue. There is no monument, no songs, or any poem about the silent lovers. But Nature will remember them. The pain of unrequited love of the two who only spoke through the glances and never United in life time is not less tragic than the famous ones. The narrator believes their love is still alive Beyond the grave. Their pain is profound because they couldn’t express, tell each other their love let alone being United. The final line expresses the observation of the narrator that there are some great love tales with pain and tears which remains unknown to us.

THROUGH THE TRANSPARENT GLASS

I can see your glare through the transparent glass,

And you can see mine.

Nothing is said ever.

What transpires between you and me through the glass

Says it all.

Our unblinking eyes says to each other,

You are mine.

Note:The poem is based on personal experience.

Commentary:They see each other through transparent glass. May be everyday. Or may be just one day. May be they are colleagues but one is supior. Nothing can be said. But what transpired between the two through the transparent glass says it all. The belonging ness. May be love or attractions. Whatever it is unknown to both the poet or the reader. Or may be just for a day they saw each other . they were strangers. Nothing could be exchanged. But in that very moment all was said. What happened next is left for the readers to interpret with the colours of their minds. The poem is open to interpretations.

THE WIND FLOWER

I rise from blood, nectar and tears,

I stand against fates conspiracy to conceal his memories.

I am the tribute of her eternal love of him.

I have the bloody hue but I live for a while.

When wind blows I open and fade away with the next blow.

All say, when I close my petals, I sign the rain and good luck.

But  they fail to remember Adonis and Venus.

They may call me Wind Flower of good luck,

But I will always be Anemone, a remembrance of immortal love.

I am Anemone.

Note:The poem is based on the Anemone flower myth.

Commentary:The poetic imagination of the poet is that there is sobs and sighs of Anemone. When they see her and the wind, they think of only approaching rain and good luck. People changed her name to The Wind flower. They tend to forget the story behind the birth of Anemone. The love immortalised in her. The love and tragedy of Adonis and Venus. But Anemone is proud of her tale. No matter what people think or change her name into what she declares she will be always Anemone, a reminder of eternal love. She is proud of what she is and how she came to Earth and she is not going to forget. The poem suggests that in course of time we forget. Beautiful old things, tales are lost where it should be treasured and cherished.

MEN OF ILLUSION

I hold the hands of One Man in wedlock.

This is called life.

Another Man holds the rain in a cloudy night.

When I touch the cloud, where is the rain?

Tears flow.

In a stormy night, I close the sight of The Other Man

And keep going with the illusions .

Man in so called life is a closed one,

The Other Man is distant rains,

And I fall asleep listening to rains.

Note:The poem is based on complicated relationship inside and outside wedlock.

Commentary:The narrator is holding the hands of a man with a wedlock. But the narrator can listen see the other man holding rains for her. Far fetched imagery of love, holding rain for some one he loves. But duty calls. The narrator touched the clouds. The obstruction. And instead of rainfall she finds herself with tears. She can’t be United to the other man. The reasons are unknown. And are left to the readers. Finally the narrator decides to close down the imagery and go on with life with illusion. The illusion is the man in wedlock is her close one. May be due to duty, vow whatever the readers can think of. The narrator decides to close sight of the other man. But she can not entirely wipe him out. So from the image of holding rains for her, he turns into distant rainfall symbolising he is still resides in her heart as  heart beats. And she falls asleep listening to distant rain. The poems tries to simply tell the complexity of the relationship inside and outside wedlock in most simple way with imagery, symbol and Metaphors.

TABASSUM TAHMINA SHAGUFTA HUSSEIN

TABASSUM TAHMINA SHAGUFTA HUSSEIN from Dhaka, Bangladesh is MA holder in British&American Literature. Now a Free-lance writer doing second Masters in Human Resources. Her Poems were published in Our Poetry Archive Anthology 'Spiritual Poetry Beyond Borders'2018, The Pangolin Review, A Poem A Day @poetrypotion,  Ink and Sword Magazine, Turnpike Magazine, A Tribute to Gabriel Okara Anthology, Academy of Heart and Mind, Tiny seed literary journal, Libretto Literary magazine and Our Poetry Archive Spirit of Nature Anthology 2019, Pomona Valley Review (To be published in August, 2019). Aestheticism is the essence of her existence. She can be reached at tts.hussein@gmail.com