Shamim Azad
Across Seven Seas
(To Carolyne Elizabeth Adams)
When I jumped ship
Every one said "don’- na na na"*
I did not listen
I listened to the voice
A distant voice- " shobdo shash aash"**
Ko kho go gho jo jho chao chcho eio cho chcho***
Like ripple on the water
like wind with feathers,
which came across 7 seas.
We came across 7 seas.
I grabbed the shore in the cold
held my body
on the edge
filled the cocoon
made it warm
wheeled the machine
made the yarn
wove the silk
seamless one
brought the spice
cooked hot rice
made my home
a house in need
that’s the one in Spitalfields-
Ko kho go gho jo jho cho chcho eio cho chcho.
I came across 7 seas
I made my home beneath
green mulberry trees.
I live there,
with all these skills
incredible and indigenous
people without malice.
People in rags
vendors on fags
tailors with stains
poets insane
and the people accomplished.
We all came over
but some were gone for ever
beyond mulberry bush
beyond indigo fields
ko kho go gho jo jho cho chcho eio cho chcho
We came across 7 seas.. seas…
* na= no
** shobdo= sound, shash= air/breathing, aash= hope/aspiration
*** Bangla Alphabet
written June 2001, revised 28 June 2007 with Kerry Andrews