Love, Beauty, and Death
Mesfakus Salahin
Chapainawabganj, Bangladesh

Seek love in the sunlight !
Seek love in beauty !
Why do you not seek it in the grave?
One day, the grave shall be our bed.

Seek heaven in the light!
Seek love in heaven!
Why do you not seek it in the darkness?
One day, our final journey shall be into the dark.

Light a torch and seek ecstasy within the hearts of lovers!
Two souls find their reflection in the mirror. 

After the searing heat, only molten darkness remains,
Where a long-drawn sigh awaits.
Who shall open the door upon the path of darkness?
Who shall bathe the gloom in light?
Who shall rouse the slumber within the graveyard—
Where love itself is the ferryman of death?

The fires now dead were once light;
The graves once held a state of waiting; Darkness dwelt within the poet’s soul;
And love lay hidden.

There was a wail within the womb of darkness;
A plea resonated in the ghostly, droning hum; 

Love letters lay lightless for a thousand years; 

The darkness was devoid of beauty.
Yet today, this darkness is radiant;
Today, this very death is desired;
Graveyards are bathed in moonlight; Monstrous insects gnaw at the darkness, illuminating it;
Some humans pick at and devour the beloved corpses—
Alas, what cruelty!

Everyone desires the fragrance of a withered rose;
Even a pebble suffers the agony of death’s sorrow.
No one seeks the beauty of death in the rays of the setting sun,
Yet the starving, waiting at the royal gate, find beauty there;
Amidst poverty, the pure rose stands tall with head held high.
All grievances gather within the paralysis of the realm;
A magical touch drifts forth from the royal mausoleum—
Impure consciousness is cleansed within the bloodless frame.
The sky of an anguished mind becomes clouded with vexation;
Beauty remains trapped in a leaking prison, 

While a grotesque future tolls in silence,

Destructive death effortlessly embraces
The dormant span of life within our souls,
As the funeral procession stretches ever longer.