Narikhol by Anonymous
They called me ‘Coconut’—but my roots ran deeper than they knew.
All these traces of culture
Desperately shoved down
Yet my mother tongue
Is nowhere to be found
Still she bites at my lips
Violently stabs at my heart
“Coconut Coconut”
Give up the farce
But what is so white?
About my art
Of loving my family
No matter how far
Rivers flow, over those we’ve lost
And in my hazy emotion
I’m back where I belong
The heart of my motherland
Breaking mine so I grieve
“Coconut Coconut”
Did the motherland you ever leave?
In the cold of the west
Trying to freeze my warm heart
Through a black call she whispers
“Coconut Coconut”
Come back to my path
I confess to her and no longer hide
Albeit not through words
But gasps and cries
“Coconut Coconut”
The nickname lies
So perhaps my mother
Can find her translation
In the way my tears
Are steadily cascading
Look down, the tears fell
For your blood and your flesh
Planting like roots in the ground
On the cold British soil
My beloved Sylheti is found
- “Coconut Coconut”