The Train Poem by Farrukh Ahmad

The long-awaited rain has come with the easterly wind!
Rain has come on arable villages beside the Meghna and the Padma
The scorched sky and fields are now covered with black shadows;
That lovely fairy, lightning, rides from cloud to cloud.
On this rainy day the screwpine is thrilled to see
Lightning's wonderful glare on the horizon,
The sunburnt paddy fields pine for the rainy touch,
And flood through river-cracks brings tide for life.

The scorched rough fields like the scaly hands
Of an old ailing beggar hear the melody of rainfall;
The thirsty mind wakes up along with the parched forest,
Wants to traverse many roads and rugged plains
Where the forgotten days are left behind in seclusion,
The rainy season's clouds halt there with a heavy heart.

[Translated by Abdur Rashid Khan]