River Naboganga
Imrul Kayes
I was a barefooted child on your muddy shore,
O Naboganga, my first playmate
My laughter once skipped across your ripples
Like flat stones racing the current along.
Small wooden boats swayed beside the ghat
Their ropes creaking in the golden sun;
Fishermen called out across your breast,
And the day’s long journey had just begun.
I learned to swim in your gentle arms,
Splashing where the water kissed the sand;
Mother’s voice echoed from the courtyard far—
“Come back before the light leaves the land!”
At evening, when the sky turned amber-red,
The azaan floated from the village mosque,
Drifting softly over your quiet waves,
Melting into twilight’s tender hush.
Your waters carried that sacred call
Far beyond what eyes could see—
As if even you bowed your flowing head
In silent, endless reverie.
In monsoon months you grew fierce and wide,
Overflowing fields in a restless sweep;
We watched from doorways, half afraid,
As thunderclouds began to weep.
Yet even in flood, in your roaring might,
You were never a stranger to me—
Just a mother scolding her careless child,
Wild, but loving endlessly.
Winter mornings wrapped you in silver fog,
Boats emerging like dreams from sleep;
I walked along your banks with quiet thoughts
The secrets only rivers keep.
O Naboganga, you are stitched in my veins!
In every memory, every breath I take
If I ever leave your tender shore,
It is you my restless heart will ache for.
I never forget your crystal clear water.
For you are not merely a river that flows—
You are my childhood, my beloved home.
I can't ever forget you, darling.
07 February 2024
Nohata, Magura.
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