Every Day on the Calendar is Nellie By Abdul Kalam Azad I live with a strange fear I cannot sleep Night glitters and my heart flutters My ears pop like a rabbit’s On this new moon night, I see Every day on my calendar stained with blood You have seen blood all your life, I tell my heart Why are you scared of blood? I close my eyes Another handful of fear rumbles in my belly. May is not marked in blood- the Beki’s waters Have washed it clean I was scared in Khagrabari. I walked down through Beki and reached Mazidbhita. Haishyor Bhai's one and a half year old boy Drowned And his body hardened One fine day in June Nearby Uncle Fajal trembles like a leaf Uncle has a fever, hasn’t eaten for two days He sits on a bamboo bed the size of a calendar Aunty trembles too What if the waters rise some more? The wet calendar dries Fear drenches my mind In a dark room, my hands turn the pages A damned fox maybe a civet stole my hens The cacophony of chickens struts over My calendar Sister Halimon was taken to detention leaving her three-month-old son behind Sister Hasina had her baby inside the detention camp In four years the little boy has not seen the world outside this coop My world shivers in fear I cannot sleep Lend me some strength friends Lend me some false hope For one, just one night on this calendar Let me sleep 4