Life Caged in Concrete: Village Memories in the City (Poem)
At a glance
- Home, office and the road between — four walls everywhere in the mechanical city.
- The money came, yet the heart feels empty; the childhood playground and village songs are gone.
- The poet wants no car or house, only a little peace and the touch of the green village.
An English rendering of the Bangla poem "কংক্রিটের খাঁচায় বন্দি জীবন" by Sultan Muhammad Rashed, written on 10 July 2025 and kept here as a memory. The original Bangla is on the Bangla page.
A life imprisoned by four walls —
as if there is no time even to breathe.
Time slips away on its own, unnoticed,
and a thousand village memories fall far behind.
Four walls at home, and the same at the office;
wherever I travel, Mother —
there too I see nothing but walls on every side.
No river, no forest, no quiet place at all,
my heart weeps among the mechanical noises all around.
Once my pockets were empty, now I only count money,
still my heart is restless and feels so empty.
I thought I would do something big and live happily,
yet after all this, the cry inside never ends.
On my phone screen I watch a virtual sunrise,
walking in the real sun leaves me tired and numb.
The playground of my childhood now lies under buildings;
where laughter used to ring, there is silence today.
The evening breeze no longer touches my ears,
the village songs are lost in the city of smoke.
My dear ones in the village and the pull of my mother’s call —
all are pages of memory now, their life like dust.
I don’t want a car, I don’t want a house, I don’t want a life of luxury,
I want a little peace, I want the touch of green.
Not to the city lights — I want to return to that golden village,
where heart and soul will smile at the touch of a drop of dew.
✍️ Sultan Muhammad Rashed
10 July 2025