Megasthenes’ Grin Poem by jewel mazhar

You are stuffing gunpowder into
the silent cannon
All by yourself. When winter is
over
Why do you stuff gunpowder
Into the cannon?

I wonder:
Is Megasthenes’ grin also
Megasthenes?
Within this power-operated
Charade
Brown horses fly
—Engines rumbling and robots
coughing by.

Are you still stuffing gunpowder
into the silent cannon?

[Translated from the original Bengali by fellow poet and friend Subrata Augustine Gomes]