Silva Kaputikyan (b. 1919). Armenia

In the Sevan Mountains

Alone, and spun in spills of sunshine,
I stood astride the hush of Sevan's hills:
high, so high that an eagle
tipped my shoulder with his wing
while I stood whorled in scud-mist.
And the world looked mighty, mighty and endless.

Then, in a moment, unseeing the slow, still space,
I looked down - at a small house,
and tracks along a rutted slope -

And I needed people.


Shamsur Rahman. Bangladesh

The Strike

Today no anxious arms crowd the counters.
    No trod-on toes, no fidget-queues, no push-and-shove.
...