In Memory of Iffat Sharmin
Depressingly, you kept disappearing by degrees.
First, the emerging woman in you had to be veiled.
Next, the shy charm you exuded had to be obscured.
And then it seemed you decided life itself should cease!
Now, more than ever, I see you smiling ever so softly
Now, keenly, I think of your bright but quiet presence.
Could it be that you had finally opted for absence?
Did you decide to extinguish your light fully, voluntarily?
Why else would you fall to a rare, autoimmune disease?
Surely you had felt it was time for you to cease!
All of us can only rue that so brilliant a mind had so short a lease
But tired of remorseless life you had decided in the end to cease!
(Written for the condolence meeting for Iffat held at EWU on 20 July, 2013)
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Fakrul Alam is an academic, translator and writer from Bangladesh. He has translated works of Jibanananda Das and Rabindranath Tagore into English and is the recipient of Bangla Academy Literary Award (2012) for translation and SAARC Literary Award (2012).
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