The Odor

 -Jahed Ahmed

 

 They say, �On Broadway, Manhattan;

You get all kinds of fragrances:

Cologne, body spray, perfumes.

From Paris. From Singapore.

From Italy, London and

From New York.� 
 

Alas! I didn�t find it. 
 

With great hope-

I went to MACY�s.

Nope!
 

I went to Canal Street, Downtown;

I didn�t find it.


I call it a pity-

For I�m living in New York City-

The World Capital, the Big Apple.

Yet in it I couldn�t find what I used to;

In a small village of the poorest

Country of the world: Bangladesh.


The odor of the body of my mother

When she was wearing a cotton Sharee.

Four and half years have passed

Since I smelled her odor

For the last time.


I can�t even remember now-

How exactly it smelled except for the memory-

It made me always fall asleep.

 

Ah! How nice it would have been-

Had there been a means to pack

Such odor! I would have not hesitated to import it

Using the fastest courier service available.

 

New York

10/10/04

  5-21 pm

 

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