Omar Ali (b. 1938)

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ONE DAY A MAN

One day a man came and asked me: Can you draw?
What? I asked
Draw me a woman, he said:
a well shaped woman,
strangely beautiful, arrogant, with a cruel poise.
I want a faultless sketch.

But why? I asked him again.
I shall burn it: he replied.

               (translated by Pritish Nandy)

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THE LONELY MAN

He was sitting alone:
sad, weary,
with a tear-stained face.
I asked him: Why?

He looked at me silently
and kept quiet.

I asked him again: Why?
Again he looked silently
into my eyes
and said nothing.

Then he got up and went away
leaving behind his silence.

               (translated by Pritish Nandy)

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Revised: April 13, 1996