Not My City Poem by Taslima Nasrin

Not My City

Rating: 4.5


This isn't the kind of city,
Once I called my own.
The city belongs to foxy politicians,
Unscrupulous traders, flesh racketeers, pimps, loompens, rapists,
But this cannot be my city.

The city belongs to mute witnesses,
To rape and murder but not to me,
The city belongs to hypocrites,
Feigning nonchalance to the sight of destitute,
At slums and beggars dying on the avenues of the rich.
This is the city of the escapists,
Who at the slightest premonition of a peril,
Make the hastiest retreat.
This is the city of the spooks
They stoically sit on the piles of injustice;
Here they go into rhapsodies,
Over the question of life after death.
This is the city of the soothsayers,
Agents of self-aggrandizement, opportunists.
I can never call it my own city, never.
Liars, cheats, religious bigots abound in here;
In this city, we're a handful of men and women
Armed with logic, liberal thoughts,
Voice against injustice,
Live in beating hearts.
Not my City.

[Translated by Sujal Bhattacharya]

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Dr Antony Theodore 30 May 2020

Liars, cheats, religious bigots abound in here; In this city, we're a handful of men and women Armed with logic, liberal thoughts, Voice against injustice, Cruel realities of life. tony

0 0 Reply
Fabrizio Frosini 14 December 2015

oh.. this is exactly what I think of Italy...

15 0 Reply
Fabrizio Frosini 14 December 2015

This isn't the kind of city, Once I called my own. The city belongs to foxy politicians, Unscrupulous traders, flesh racketeers, pimps, loompens, rapists, But this cannot be my city. - IN ITALIAN: Non è questo il genere di città Che un tempo ho chiamato 'mia'. La città appartiene a politici volponi, A commercianti senza scrupoli, ai trafficanti di carne, ruffiani, lazzaroni, stupratori, No, questa non può essere la mia città.

15 0 Reply
READ THIS POEM IN OTHER LANGUAGES
Taslima Nasrin

Taslima Nasrin

Mymensingh / Bangladesh
Close
Error Success