I

Butterflies flit, turn and flutter

Like shreds of color bolted into air.

Flowers gaze up in alarm 

at the sparkles in the sun.

It's the wizard's legerdemain,

Beyond compare is the phenomenon.

Flowers check with their apparels 

if their colors have faded somewhere,

or make sure their fleeting fluorescence

hasn't rubbed off on these agile aliens

or if the doubtful strangers have picked

Their little pockets in broad daylight,

Their pigments, their only treasures,

And made them paupers extraordinaire. 

Daylight brigands, thieves — who knows— 

There can be that pass for the gentry 

in the latest fashion and artistry,

but are forsooth light-fingered gentlemen 

with a fair face and slick hair 

or armed with a cold blade lethal assassins.

II

Like the lovers caught kissing 

By the flash of a sudden light

In the dark I was embarrassed 

By the discovery of my secret

Delight, a hidden treasure,

A trove of glittering desire 

Burning all by itself at night 

When to my privacy I retire

With a thousand candle lights.

It's a majestic deep-sea fish,

That turns and flashes preciosities

But dies dull coming to strong light.

Let it alone, and burn a cold silver

A smouldering smokeless fire,

A solitary creature of the deep.

Masud Mahmood is a Professor of English at Chittagong University.