A tribute to poet Helal Hafiz

A lonely soul treads on the street cultivating the sweet pain of defunct love; like a solitary artist, he rambles through the alleys of the city and paints the canvas of his heart with the bleeding unruly words to orchestrate the mirth of life out of troubled loving pain. His one and only amorous ship Helen deserted him once and landed in another selfish port shattering all his musical dreams. Out of those wounded dreams, words start to flow and a poetic vision breeds and brews in the mind of the mystery man in a shanty lonely small room in an illusory ill city. Poetry immerses the dead soul and Spring ushers in the all the damp and dull roots of poetry. With juicy and joyous pain -embracing all wrecked lurid promises-a poet is born to create garlands of Hellenic harmony in the raging odyssey of defiant poetic words. When pain kisses the jilted lips of the faithful loving words-the delight of déjà vu begins to emerge- oh! The birth of a queer poet and king of lovers. O Helal! Helal!! how sweetly you leave alone winning all the heavy hearts on earth!

Ariful Islam Laskar pens poetry and teaches literature at Daffodil International University. Email: y2k.arif@gmail.com.