Arts: 'Your Lifelong Prisoner' Liu Xiaobo's poem from p...

Arts: 'Your Lifelong Prisoner' Liu Xiaobo's poem from p...: New book by the jailed dissident and Nobel peace prizewinner contains a moving tribute to his wife, the poet Liu Xia To Xia My dear, I'll ne...


'Your Lifelong Prisoner' Liu Xiaobo's poem from prison

New book by the jailed dissident and Nobel peace prizewinner contains a moving tribute to his wife, the poet Liu Xia

To Xia

My dear,
I'll never give up the struggle for freedom from the oppressors'
jail, but I'll be your willing prisoner for life.

I'm your lifelong prisoner, my love
I want to live in your dark insides
surviving on the dregs in your blood

inspired by the flow of your estrogen

I hear your constant heartbeat
drop by drop, like melted snow from a mountain stream
if I were a stubborn, million-year rock
you'd bore right through me
drop by drop

day and night

Inside you
I grope in the dark
and use the wine you've drunk
to write poems looking for you
I plead like a deaf man begging for sound
Let the dance of love intoxicate your body

I always feel
your lungs rise and fall when you smoke
in an amazing rhythm
you exhale my toxins
I inhale fresh air to nourish my soul

I'm your lifelong prisoner, my love
like a baby loath to be born
clinging to your warm uterus
you provide all my oxygen
all my serenity

A baby prisoner
in the depths of your being
unafraid of alcohol and nicotine
the poisons of your loneliness
I need your poisons
need them too much

Maybe as your prisoner
I'll never see the light of day
but I believe
darkness is my destiny
inside you
all is well

The glitter of the outside world
scares me
exhausts me
I focus on
your darkness
simple and impenetr! able

Reprinted by permission of Harvard University Press from No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems by Xiaobo Liu. Copyright 2012 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

সোনা

তুমিই আমার সবচেয়ে সেরা সবচেয়ে ভালো গল্প
তোমার জন্যে আজো রাখা জমানো প্রশ্ন-দ্বন্দ,
তোমার জন্যে সকালে কফি কিম্বা বিকেলে টি..
আজ ও পথ হাঁটি রে সোনা, আজ ও পথ হাঁটি..

তোমার গল্প লিখবো বলেই পেন কিনলাম সেদিন
তোমার চিন্তা মাথে নিয়ে হেঁটেছি রাত্রি-দিন,
বিকেলে আমার ভোরের ফুল, সকালে এসেছে সাঝেঁর ডাক
তোমার জন্য অপেক্ষা ভরা বৃষ্টি রাতের কাঁচের গ্লাস..

অনেক পদ্য অনেক গদ্য অনেক উপন্যাসের পর
একটা ছড়া লিখতে গিয়ে ধরা পড়লাম মুখের ভর
একটা গল্প শেষ হলো না সোনা এই গল্পটা বাকি
হতেই পারতো যেটা পুরস্কার, সেটা থেকে গেলো ফাকী..

আজো রাত গেলে পাশ ফিরে থাকি একটা আলোর খোঁজে
কেন সবুজ কমলা ধুকপুক কেন আওয়াজে শব্দ বোঝে..
এই হাজার মাইল ব্যবধান মেটানো যেত যদি
শেষ গল্প শেষ করার দম দেখাতো কবি...

Allow. Accept. Grow.

A few risks, here and there, not all could be pre-calculated,
nor could all be doctor prescribed.. for most arbiters can
never gauge what drives an offender to go the last mile.
My offense would harm no one, but me, the one I can risk.

Let the path be as less traveled as it can be.
It can help to see as less debauchery for I mastered that art.
Some dives need a push, and then the flight can make
living worthwhile.

Worth is what we set for ourselves. Like brands, they're fleeting.
For life is only finite, and dreams are not, it's better to live
the latter within the first. Otherwise, it ends before they finish.

If you make one happy, you are doing a service. For two, almost a model.
..and then awaits martyrdom. Seeking limits in the sky is only way to soar.

You make one and then you take that.
The process makes you taller, it's the best steroid!
Allow. Accept. Grow.

Of dying passions and momentary truth!

I can survive the chill but can't spare the thrill
that I smell when you smile, baby, still,
there's only so much that I could 'jure up..
that you light my sky and twinkle my stars.

I could go on, and on, but why,
where I can't see your figure move by,
and stroke the hair which fell out of line
in a perfected dream of my imperfect mind.

Back in the days when I saw you glow
and you used to make my gloomy days glow
When I could smell your perfume, but now
there's only so much that I'd let you know.

That if there's still hope, that reason's you
That can break a sailor's curse like a row
For rainbows are when your laughter breaks out.
I die in the moment, in my incarcerated ego.

Beyond

Where there was still an ounce of pain
you blinked, never knowing beyond that
lied nirvana.

Where there was still a cacophony of dimes,
you bilked, never knowing the hidden treasure
thereafter.

When life gave your shytes to deal with
and you said you can't handle it,
you missed the trove.

Because what you let go comes back,
and what you hold back was never yours.

The Last Lecture- Randy Pausch

What makes me unique?
Not why I have to suffer, but what I have to offer?
Bring out the elephant in the room.
Never make a decision until you have to.
Just because you’re in the driver’s seat, doesn’t mean you have to run people over.
Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.
Keep upping the bar of success.
Leaders don’t believe in no-win scenario.
The park is not closed at eight, it’s open until eight.
A Dutch uncle gives you honest advice and feedback.
People are more important than things.
The brick wall is there to stop people who don’t want it that badly. The brick wall is for other people.
Love will win out.
Not everything needs to be fixed.
No matter how bad things are, you can always make it worse.
Learn the meaning of sacrifice, and power of humility.
The truth does set you free.
Time must be explicitly manager, like money.
You can always change your plan, but only if you have one.
Develop a good filing system.
Rethink the telephone, use speaker while on hold, and utilize your wait time.
Delegate!
Take a break. Recharge your batteries.
Teachers’ goal should be to help student learn how to learn and judge themselves.
One’s as good a team player as the ease one’s team members find it to work with him to.
You don’t know how high the bar should be, and would only do a disservice by putting it anywhere.
Earnest is better than hip.
Raise the white flag, surrender may do you well than bad in the short span of life.
Respect the deals you make.
Don’t complain, just work harder. Complaining does not work as a strategy.
Treat the disease, not the symptom.
Don’t obsess over what people think.
Meet people properly, find things you have I common (sports weather fashion), try for optimal meeting condition, check egos at the door, praise each other and phrase alternatives as questions.
Look for the best in everybody.
Watch what they do, not what they say.
Dance with the one who brung you.
LUCK IS WHAT HAPPENES WHEN PREPARATIO MEETS OPPORTUNITY
Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right!
Don’t focus on smaller issues while ignoring the major ones.
Be the first penguin. Start. That way you lead by example and gather your experience.
Loyalty is a two-way street.
If you’re not good at your current job, what’s the guarantee that you’ll be in a better one?
All you have is what you bring with you. Be prepared. Come prepared.
A bad apology is worse than NO apology: I did wrong; I feel bad; how can I make it better?
Tell the truth. You don’t get away with your lies if you think you do.
Keep the child in you alive. Smell your crayon, playing balls (baseball/rugby/cricket/soccer/tennis).
Customer service goes a long way which you can’t measure in an office room. Have a heart, everyone.
No job is beneath you.
Never give up. Tenacity works wonders just after when you think all’s lost. Take a boost when offered.
Be a communitarian. We’re better people when we’re connected to others.
Sometimes, all you have to do is ASK!
Make a decision: fun-loving Tigger or sad-sack Eeyore?
Optimism, punched with a little practicality wonders awesome. Even the raw potion works just fine!
Value others inputs. If they’re riding hard on you, means they haven’t given up on you yet.
It’s not about how to achieve your dreams. It’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams WILL COME to you!

RIP St. Randy of Pittsburgh. Some people really live through their deaths.

The way you make me feel, baby!

Hail the superstar that keeps me from burning
Hail the rock star who keeps the guitar strings churning
new ballads, new poems, new love songs or two,
Hail the superwoman am yet to woo.

Here's to the beauty that's shinier than gold
Here's to the saying that eyes never grow old
Here's to the tan that doesn't need no Sun
that brings beaches to shame, and that's no pun!

To the person I never met but I think
I have mated more than I have breathed this birth,
If Valentine meant the one you love..
then you're the one who scored all above!

Happy Woman's Day

However past you go to.
However recent you're in.
Whichever mythology you swear by,
This, you just cannot deny.

Being the perfect lap for you to sleep,
Being the better hand to know when to feed
Being the tight slap to know what's the line
and which way to look when crossing the road.

Being the soft one of the siblings
Being the one to share all her feelings
Littlest of things and smallest of joy
Making you fit to be a healthy-wealthy boy!

Being the ear when the world ceases to listen
Being the shoulder when tears cease to open
Being the hand to hold after the afterglow
In love and in trust she makes you a man.

So in all entirety, she makes yo live
your way, or any way you can probably jive.
Don't try to go beneath, for you cannot fathom
the timeless depth of a complete woman!

Cuttin the craa..

Maybe it's just the time
maybe it's just a phrase
Maybe it's over the top
Just another Rat-race.

Maybe the song has no tune
Maybe it's pure fortune
Maybe it's touch and feel
Back to back, real to reel.

Spring got me into it!

Believe me, it's not me.
It's the spring.

I don't know how but it always starts the night it rains. or rained.
It slowly transforms into a language. It takes a figure.
The clouds pass by and horizon is seen.
and you can start drawing with borrowed art papers.

It follows the usual route.
Smiling in the dark, smiling for no reason.
Sounding stupid, cheesy and on the borders of boringly funny.
Hiding from one and all, and holding it out in the open.
With secrets hanging bare in the open to dry.

Those who know, will know.
Unfortunately, those who knew, are no more.
But you can't speed up in this route, on whichever car you drive..
either the drive;s awesome or you're terrible at driving :P

It's all the same, similar. The hours, the minutes.. the movements!
The rationales of finding rationality, and then
negating it. Only to prove it again.
Viability study is as archaic as thinking, it seems!

You always loose to yourself when you don't want to win.
and who know, know how superstitious can winning get.
What can you change, when you see the cycle moving again
every blink fights a tear or two!

I tell you it's not me, it's the spring.
It's the time to rise in it,
Don't know why but I love doing it over and over...
Maybe the light is the brightest this time.

The Definition of Beauty!

Do you remember your dreams after you wake up?
Have you tested yourself the way you did to know exactly
when you slept off?
Do you remember the face you just saw in your dreams?

What if I told you I just dreamt awake?
What if I told you I just saw those strands of hair
covering just the exact geometric angle of pupil
that is where it does not hide the expressions?

What if you never know how much loved dark circles?
Or how much they rekindles that bent down part of yours which once wanted
to burn the midnight oil rather than minting money?
Did you ever care to listen beyond your dreams.. the calls
to old blues which sounds more powerful than these reggae's of today?

Do you remember spelling beauty for the first time? Or the first time you imagined it?
You defined it for yourself.
Your very own set of prejudices,
your conserved sense of restricted media and local outlook,
and your embodiment of perfect with no extra r's in it?

You'll never know how you will feel if you never defined it... but
you will know what exactly I mean if you could see those lips
moving on your worst times.
and you sense.. no, you know,
that things will set square once those tresses are parted again.
And, you, in all your existence, just waited for that moment to come.

To capture. To love.
Till the point it's unbearable again.

What does the mirror say?

So when it begins, as always, seems sunny and sexy.

You tend to march, even in April!
You believe in togetherness, you believe in unity.
Even more dangerous, you believe in the power of youth.
You read history books of renaissance and revolutions,
And think to throttle the incumbent one day!

Whew! Actually, phew!
Amidst the belief of cutting across races and religions,
provinces and priorities, you think signatures of youth still holds..
You know the ones like drugs, pornography and late nights!

O ignorant! O innocent!
Only if you knew letter of the law is only upheld when the spirit falls down!
The raunchy jokes and friendly pokes – those flaming shots and smoking pots,
smell good only when the coal’s red. For when it’s summer, it blooms.
And when it’s winter, it just fucking doesn’t.

For it’s real hard to break out of convention.
For you don’t even know what the umbilical cord missed to catch... Where you picked up the wrongs,
Where you mixed up rules with principles, and when you messed up human relations.

Growing up is as tough as breathing easy. Let’s not even go to breaking out.
When going gets tough, you go back to your cocoons.
And in your safe havens, you start spinning your own spider-web.

You’re the story teller. You’re king. You’re the judge.
That’s a massacre of a combination.

But dude, does it really matter?
What does the mirror say?

The color is Red

The color of verses, the color of curses
The color that's believed to bind universes
The color makes you wonder, the color makes you wander
The color on your parting sure makes you thunder.

The elliptic eyes, and the secret vice
The bonnetted stories up the hill sure sound nice
The chants go all around, the falling pieces are abound
The beauty of the nature or it's you to have me spellbound?

The right's long gone, the ritual's long past
The left has gone hard way and the highway's gone fast
The driver's changed seats, or the marks are forgotten,
I bet the color's brown still, and pink when smitten.

The store rests is pieces forever, the story's put to rest
The memories that tricked down can stay safe in the chest
For the key maybe valid still, but what use's the key?
The first took it own course, let the rest be.