You walked through the smell

of the street’s decaying flesh,

a half blind unfed dog halting the night

to beg for time from passer byes with mangled hands.

2

Are you sure, you don’t like maggots

Clinging lightly to the skin of the midnight street

like children abandoned by their families ?.

3

Blind people stand under half empty lamp posts

wearing loin clothes made of blood and memory

listening to the chants that bark their way

through the night wanting to be fed by apartment blocks

that reach out to clutch the sky like

addicts looking for a late night fix.

Afsan Chowdhury is a Bangladeshi journalist, researcher, novelists, and writer. He is known for his work in documenting and researching the history of Bangladesh, particularly its liberation war in 1971. Afsan Chowdhury has written extensively on issues related to human rights, social justice, and political developments in South Asia.