Love-Timid Poem by Sufia Kamal

Even now the night's intoxication has not passed,
eyes filled with passion;
the string of ?iuli-flowers in the parting of my hair
has wilted, the world is overwhelmed with scent.
I have kept the window-shutters open,
extinguishing my lamp -
so the dew may enter and cool
the fearful outcry of my heart!
Dream's intoxication in my eyes, in my breast
a message of hope -
the distant woodland song, birds' twittering
will enter here I know.
Rising with a sudden start I see: my heart's monarch,
leaning in silence against my thigh - bedecked with flowers.
He has bestowed heaven on my heated thirst;
my weak and timid heart has trembled,
pounding full of love.

[Translated by Carolyne Wright with Ayesha Kabir]