Our poet, our pride

Could we ever forget the poem "Swadheenata Tumi"? What a poem it is! I think it is one of the best patriotic poems of Bangla literature.

"Poet, you are not dead. You have just left your body, but your soul is with us. Bless us to preserve your soul within us to implement your thoughts and ideas for the betterment and welfare of mankind."

My condolence for the bereaved family of the poet.

"April is the cruellest month breeding lilacs" was the feeling of T.S. Eliot, an American born British poet about the frustrating situation in the world after the First World War. The similar realisation has dawned upon the Bengalees in August this year, for a different reason though. To us August is the saddest month. This is the month when we lost the father of the nation; this is the month when our National Poet and a voice against tyranny and oppression passed away and last, but not the least, this cruel August has snatched away the leading Bangla poet of the 21st century- Shamsur Rahman.

Born and brought up in an urban atmosphere, he started his career as a journalist as if to shift into the vast domain of the world of literature where he took up poetry as his strongest weapon to fight for upholding the honour and status of our mother tongue, and to establish the democratic rights of the toiling masses.

This great poet has tremendously popularised Bangla poetry.

Md. Iqbal Hossain, Associate professor of English, Kushtia govt. Mohila College