Cover art: Snowflakes armor, painting by Ron Laboray.
A dot
From which springs a life
That life yields another dot
Which gives life to another
turning as tiny as a dot itself
Between the time it takes
for a dot to become an ocean
the dot gets oblivious of its being
a dot
Sonnet 1
The road to fame has never been smooth
Can never be addressed by any in sooth
The walker has to walk the solitary walk
Brushing aside the idle, jealous, tall talk
Keep on heading on with heart on bet
Till they reach the goal once by them set
Bring the laurel down at their feet
That shuts the futile critics and their shit.
Worry not that some spurn you too much
They rather egg you on to ignore the fuss
Know yourself and what you are on for
let your name and glory be almost a lore
Like those still recalled with memories fond
Leave the world with a theme for a song.
Sonnet 110
I am all the characters from literature
That you have read, have been in love with
I am Darcy by Austen, the hero misunderstood
I am Paris by Homer, the timid lover with lust
I am Romeo by Shakespeare, to be your glove
Worn on the hand never to be taken off
I am Hamlet, with love ardent for poor Ophelia
Forty thousand brothers with all their love
Cannot match my love for your pilgrim soul
I am Maznu, the lovelorn heart from folklore
Kissing the walls of your city that sees you so
I am all the love you were destined to receive
With a decree of heaven, far from us to know
Love, know what love has the power to show.
Zulfiqar Parvez is a teacher by profession and a poet by passion. He graduated with an M.A in English from Rajshahi University and is currently working as a Vice Principal at an English Medium School in Dhaka. He has also penned over 118 sonnets in English and many more poems of other genres.
