Soma Ghosh Monica:

Adam and Eve’s first sin was a kiss.

How strange—a magical sin—

Today we are guilty of the same crime.

Look at me, my love—

On your intoxicated lips rests the love of centuries.

How warm! In a tight embrace, lips have touched lips,

as if moonlight has blossomed on the face of the moon.

I can’t take it anymore—

my hands are growing numb. What’s all this commotion?

Summer is still far away.

The cuckoo sings kuhu kuhu, announcing—

spring is not yet over.

But what do we care!

We are still pressing lips to lips.

Inside my chest, a thousand hammers

pound with dhong-dhong—

I know the world won’t notice.

But we know—some magical coolness

has spread throughout our bodies.

An electric shock runs down my spine.

The knot at my waist loosens.

Honey from wildflowers slowly drips

along the inner thighs—

flowers have bloomed here to surrender to the bee.

The bee knows he is the gardener of this orchard;

he must wait longer.

The body refuses restraint,

but the mind will not consent.

A fierce battle rages between mind and flesh

I don’t know who will win.

Your two hands clutch me tight,

our chests collide in conflict.

My chest hides within yours,

like the pact of a magnet and metal.

Lips locked on lips—

as if prisoners of an impending Third World War.

Our kiss grows deeper—

as though we are refugees from Israel,

hungry for days.

What a terrible thirst on your lips and mine!

What a blissful delight in this kiss!

A kiss feels like God’s blessing.

Let’s kiss—

Down the alleyways of lips, tongues duel in battle.

The last drop of enzyme is sucked out by

the vacuum of the kiss.

The moment your tongue taps mine—

a flash of lightning runs through the veins of my neck.

Some strange sensation leaves my whole body helpless.

Beneath the navel, a conspiracy brews.

The body wants the body closer—

but the mind says no.

The body says—come closer, this is the moment,

let’s become one.

The mind says—no, I want more love, more warmth.

Let’s kiss—

My eyes grow heavy in an unfamiliar trance.

How enchanting this world is!

Even a herd of pigs in a slum

looks like a cluster of lotus flowers.

I’m leaning on your chest,

my legs trembling.

All my thoughts are wrapped around you.

I don’t know which corner of the world

it’s raining in today,

or who is dying in hunger and neglect;

and the world doesn’t know

you and I are kissing.

The world doesn’t care about our kiss.

The world keeps moving—

only you and I have stopped.

What thirst! What ecstatic joy!

At the base of my navel—

an icy pleasure mixed with pain.

Heavy breaths make me sway.

Loudspeakers in the streets announce—

Section 144 from tomorrow.

But what do we care!

We are two, yet one.

Your lips pressed to mine,

your eyes locked with mine.

Like the heads of ripened rice in autumn,

every hair on my body stands tall.

These lips crave more—

my heart wants to leap from my chest.

My hands can no longer be restrained.

A couple of kisses slip out like

a soldier’s bullets—

without reason, here and there.

A soldier’s bullets are counted,

but you own my lips—

all accounts are kept on your lips.

Outside—angry protests,

threats to topple the government—

but what do we care!

Our lips only want to be closer.

All life in our motionless bodies

has gathered at our lips.

The taste of the human body is salty—

but lips are not. Why not?

Come, no more arguments—

Let’s kiss.

A kiss is the most expensive chocolate in the world.

The closer you and I get,

the more our lips wander in disorder.

Now love no longer stays in the heart—

it wants to spread through the whole body.

A storm rages in my chest.

 

I can’t hear the Shahbagh loudspeakers anymore.

I don’t know if the government will fall—

I only know that this love is no longer in my mind;

it has spread throughout my body,

just as the Shahbagh protests

spread from cities to the farthest villages.

Beneath the navel—

an unbearable pleasure calls out to someone.

A hidden river burns in scorching heat,

ready to burst like a student protest march.

It will flood the garden of youth with desire.

Yet the mind says—no, not the body, I want the mind.

Just as the students demand—

not just the fall, but equality;

the right to live.

Let us kiss—

A kiss is the staircase of love,

through which one can step into heaven while still alive.

So do not forbid the kiss.

Let lovers love.

Remember—

the world’s battles are fought

so lovers may kiss in peace.

It’s better to kiss your beloved’s lips

than to be a soldier in war.

War means death,

but love means only life.

Love speaks of life in the letters of youth—

it speaks of new beginnings.

Let us go deeper still,

clutch each other tighter.

Our time is frozen—

but the Trump–Kim summit is not.

Rice prices are rising,

the poor are dying without food.

Yet your lips cling to mine.

The taste of a kiss surpasses

the finest wine.

A kiss is the only heavenly nectar.

There may be many in this world

who have never tasted the pleasure of sex,

but no one exists

who has never kissed themselves.

Sylhet News/SD