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<h3>Poem of the Day 每日诗歌</h3>
<blockquote>
<p><b>The Day God Was Angry</b><br>
<cite>Mir Mahfuz Ali</cite></p>
<p>A storm roared over the Bay of Bengal,<br>
a raving bull charging with its horns.<br>
It pounded through the long night<br>
on our side of the planet<br>
as we children huddled together<br>
inside our fatherless bungalow.</p>
<p>We watched how our tin-roof ripped off.<br>
First from its tie beams<br>
and then the ceiling joists, one by one.<br>
The rest of the house disappeared<br>
as we covered our heads with our hands.</p>
<p>We saw our possessions take flight<br>
– the Koran, War and Peace,<br>
Gitanjali, The Tempest,<br>
the clothes in the alna, shoes and sandals,<br>
sisters’ dolls and brothers’ cricket bats.<br>
We children couldn’t understand<br>
what sins we’d committed,<br>
but we asked for God’s forgiveness.<br>
We thought the worst was over,</p>
<p>then came the giant waves<br>
one after the other snatching us<br>
from the arms of our mother,<br>
tossing us like cheap wood<br>
splintered by a strange passion.</p>
<p>The brutal water<br>
from the mighty Himalayas<br>
swept us away,<br>
from home and mother.<br>
Who would protect us now from God’s fury?</p>
<p>In the shipwrecked dawn<br>
everything was different.<br>
Trees had fallen, showing their great roots.<br>
Cats and cattle lay dead on the ground.</p>
<p>Our bodies shrivelled with water,<br>
shuddered like old engines.<br>
Teeth rattled to the point of rapture,<br>
longing for a few rays of warmth from the sun.<br>
Finding ourselves trapped in a wind-sheared tree,<br>
we looked for a round woman in a sari.<br>
The sun came very late that day,<br>
spreading sticky mud and fears.<br>
We couldn’t hear the birds singing<br>
or the muezzin calling for prayer<br>
in the mosque of our landscape.<br>
Silence, the new disease,<br>
swept across our turbulent land.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><cite>Shared by Albert Tan. Inspired by Question 1 of <code>0475_s24_qp_43</code>.
<br>由谭云潮分享。受 <code>0475_s24_qp_43</code> 第 1 题启发。</cite></p>
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