Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee

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Cairo

.

You burst into a
million seeds,
poured over the hot
stove of rancour,
Cairo.

When the walls no longer
withstood your curses,
you awakened the streets
with your boots,
Cairo.

Your cries brought the
sky down at Tahrir Square,
the Pharaoh shook
in his dreams,
Cairo.

With you the square
was a fortress of the heart,
engraved in
rebellion’s calligraphy,
Cairo.

When bulls of the regime
let loose their armoury,
you defended your future
with stones,
Cairo.

Your battered men did not
flee the field of honour,
they stood up to
your name,
Cairo.
.

Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee is a poet, writer, translator and political science scholar. His poems have appeared in World Literature Today, Rattle, The London Magazine, New Welsh Review, Acumen, The Fortnightly Review, and others. His prose has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, Guernica, Outlook, The Hindu and The Wire. His first collection of poetry, Ghalib’s Tomb and Other Poems, was published by The London Magazine (November, 2013). His political nonfiction, Looking for the Nation: Towards Another Idea of India, was published by Speaking Tiger Books (August, 2018).