Translated from the Bengali by Pritha Chatterjee
Translator’s Note:
Bleeding and Burning: Poems to Iran is a series of anti-war poetry in translation originally written in Bengali as Iraner Prati by two of West Bengal’s prominent contemporary poets, Selim Mallick and Shyamali Mishra. Rooted in the immediate context of the current Iran war, the poems, in spite of their acute topicality, go beyond a specific geopolitical conflict in manifesting creative resistance against the continuing devastation and dehumanization of communities, cultures and civilizations in the Middle East. Iran here becomes a symbol of defiance and dignity, pristine nature, and undying human instincts and emotions in the face of trampled innocence, death and destruction. The English title encapsulates the dichotomy of the war—how a country is bleeding through open wounds yet not bleeding cold. On the contrary, the ancient fire is still burning, consuming the blood and emitting flames of unwavering courage, determination and hope. This is a tribute to the indomitable spirit and immeasurably rich culture of Iran with which these contemporary poets writing in Bengali feel connected not only through the universal appeal of humanity but, in fact, through the age-old influences on language, literature, art, music, sartorial and culinary habits, and, above all, politics and spiritualism, contributing to the cosmopolitan essence of early-modern Bengal.
These translations are from an unpublished body of work of the poets.
Six Poems by Selim Mallick
1.
Look, blades of grass are strewn across the
Battle-field—
Today, our little girl is launching pink balloons to the sky,
Dancing along, and chasing butterflies.
2.
Mahsa Amini and Mahmoud Darwish1
Are conversing
Across their graves
They are waging a war against the war.
3.
Each letter of the poem that I’ve written for you today, my Love,
Is the wing of sea-herons
Tarred black by crude petrol
Littered along the coast of a dead gulf.
4.
A cloud of blue butterflies came in your dream
You came in mine, just so!
Even flowers seek solace in the human heart
In this world of rubble and ruin.
5.
If you wake up suddenly from a dream shattered,
Know, that a Dromedary
With the stoutest hump has just
Collapsed in a bramble patch.
6.
Spring arrives in the graveyard of children killed in the war.
Spring arrives by the grace of our Anaemic Lord!
Like the fire-winged farishta2 Spring arrives.
Spring arrives everywhere,
In the White House, of all places, even in the burial ground.
Notes:
1. Mahsa Amini (2000-2022) and Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008) are two distinct figures representing struggle for resistance against two different forms of violence and repression in the Middle East. Amini, a young Kurdish-Iranian woman, died in the custody of Iran’s ‘morality police’ Gasht-e Ershad who detained her for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly. Amini’s death transcended her as a modern symbol of freedom, defying patriarchal and authoritarian state power. Mahmoud Darwish, on the other hand, is a renowned Palestinian poet who is also considered one of the most important and robust poetic voices of the Arab world. His poems are steeped in a profound sense of loss and longing for the homeland. He remained the poetic voice for Palestinian identity until his death in 2008. Interestingly, notwithstanding the distinct nature of their oppressions as well as struggles these two figures are somewhat connected through a political aesthetics. In the protest campaigns following the custodial killing of Amini the poems of Darwish had been used extensively by Iranian protestors as words of resistance.
2. Farishta is a Persian-origin word which means ‘angel’, ‘divine messenger’, a celestial being conveying divine messages. The word evolved through Persian, influenced by Zoroastrian and later Islamic concepts of winged heavenly beings.
Six Poems by Shyamali Mishra
1.
Icarus flew too close to the sun,
His wax wings are melting away.
The waters of the gulf of Oman, desolate and forlorn,
Pass on the smell of the dying to nothingness.
2.
Let the wild return to the wilderness,
Let marigold children play by the banks
Of the river Karoun3 – breathing these words zarin4 Damask5
Of the morning light enfolded the cypress woods.
3.
After light lingers, abandoned and forgotten, like some broken toy
In Rumi’s land men and women are burying
Their children killed in air raids.
4.
Laughter of dead children echoed from
The graveyards of Minab6
Winter settles in the eyes of mothers who used to weave stories about
Fire-eating tigers,
Silence breaks into pieces, at random.
5.
Wild-poppy children are lying under the pistachio tree -
Bosoms, damp beneath the falling dew,
They shivered throughout the night.
6.
A child, half in sleep, started cuddling the dead bosoms
Eyes are welling up in the cold light of dawn.
Notes:
3. Originating in the Zard Kuh mountains the Karoun river is the longest and only navigable river in Iran. It is also the Iranian river with the highest water flow.
4. Zarin or zareen is derived from the Persian word zar that means gold. Zarin is ‘golden’ or ‘made of gold’.
5. Damask is a reversible, patterned fabric with intricate designs woven directly into the cloth combining a contrast of matt and glossy threads. Known for the luxurious appearance, this fabric is named after Damascus, Syria, which happened to be a major trade centre on the ancient silk road.
6. Minab is an ancient southern city of Iran in the Hormozgan province. Located along the Minab river, the city is known for its lush palm groves, orchards, and ancient historical sites like the Hazareh Castle. Around 10 a.m. on February, 2026, a US-Israel missile strike on the city’s Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school killed and injured hundreds of people, mostly schoolchildren.
Selim Mallick has published six poetry collections so far: Aasharir Kalataan (The Bodily Orchestra; published by Roudrachhaya, 2004), Chand niye khela korchhi (Playing with the Moon; published by Adam, 2009), Pratipad Kaumudi (Moon of the First Night; published by Chhonya, 2013), Akash naki Gangini (Sky or the River, published by Ahira, 2017), Manus amar keu noy (Man is none to me, published by Ahira, 2019) and Kalo machh chakkar dichhe (Black Fish Wheeling Around; published by Anapekkha, 2024). Besides, Mallick is a distinguished prose writer and literary critic with a serious commitment to the Bengali little magazine movement. He is also a recognized editor primarily associated with literary magazines and journals in Bengali like Austric and Ekti Ujjwal Machh. He has been honoured with several prestigious poetry awards, including ‘Krittibas Puraskar’, ‘Bristidin Puraskar’, and ‘Madhumita Bandyopadhyay Smriti Puraskar’.
Shyamali Mishra is an emerging voice in contemporary Bengali poetry. An academic, dedicated to the study of Bengali language and literature, Mishra holds a doctoral degree for her research on feminist readings of Bengali novels. Her debut collection of poems Priya Aagun du ek kona (A Few Sparks of My Cherished Flame) was published by Ahira in 2025 and has been met with significant critical praise.
Pritha Chatterjee is an assistant professor of English teaching in Naba Ballygunge Mahavidyalaya, Kolkata. She is also pursuing her doctoral research in Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta.