Old friendship like cold tea

waits at your side

You return to it at leisure

without much hurry.

And you sip it when others

leave hotfoot in emergency.

The old friend has all the time

To fill in your empty moments

And doesn't mind at all when you leave

without completing the sentence.

On Meeting by Chance

After ages one day

We happened to be

Passing each other.

I greeted her

But greetings returned

With a cold stare.

I thought she didn't hear

But it was a mistake:

She did hear, but ignored

We'd ever known each other.

We were embarrassed in turn,

Claiming and disclaiming our past.

Anyway, we weren't total strangers:

In us was our past deeply embalmed

And silence had got its tongue.

Masud Mahmood is formerly a Professor of English, Chittagong University.