My heart is white still, virgin as the flower
That blooms upon the elephant-apple tree;
Untouched, unspent, it keeps its hour,
A thing too pure for what I’ve made of me.
My youth stays green, like papaya’s leaf that will not fade,
My soul still wears the smile a child once wore.
I bring no trophy, no bright thing I’ve made —
Not even grief that’s loud enough to roar.
Yet I am I, caught in a spider’s thread,
A web not of your spinning, but my own;
For when truth called, I hung my head,
And let you love a lie I’d sown.
So let forgiveness be our only cure —
And like the flower, life will bloom anew and pure.
Md. Riajul Islam
Assistant Professor in English
Aziz Ahmed College,Muradia, Dumki, Patuakhali.