COME and sit with me head to head. Let us talk about life and death. Let us talk about length and breadth. Let us talk about suffocation and breath, let us talk about sickness and health. Let us talk about hearth and heath, let us talk about thorn and wreath. Let us talk about nightmare and dream, let us talk about whey and cream. Let us talk about dearth and plenty, let us talk about riffraff and gentry. Let us talk about cold and heat. Let us talk about entry and exit.

Let us talk about lost and found, let us talk about square and round. Let us talk about noise and sound. Let us talk about courage and fear, let us talk about far and near. Let us talk about front and rear. Let us talk about hope and despair, let us talk about baldness and hair. Let us talk about high and low, let us talk about friend and foe. Let us talk about anything, let us talk about many a thing. Let us talk about light and dark, let us talk about jungle and park. Let us talk about philoso- phy and math, let us talk about love and wrath.

We need to talk no matter what. We need to talk whether we stand or squat. We need to talk whether we run or walk. We need to talk whether we fizzle or spark. We need to talk whether we believe or not. We need to talk whether we grow or rot. We need to talk whether right or wrong. We need to talk whether weak or strong.

We make lot of noise, but not enough choice. We speak a lot without any voice. We argue a lot, but don't understand enough. We look at the peak, but live in the trough. We look for light in darkness. We look for slim in thickness. We look for depth on the surface. We read our souls on the face. Come and sit with me. Let us talk about bird and bee. Let us talk about plain and pleasure, let us talk about trash and treasure. Let us talk about past and future. Let us talk about fusion and rupture.

We need shock to knock on our soul. We need aim and vision to

reach our goal. We need to look before we go. We need to see before we show. We need to deserve before we desire. We need to work before we retire. We need to sow before we reap. We need to grope before we grip. Let us sit down face to face. Let us talk about joker and ace. Let us talk about modesty and shame. Let us talk about ignominy and fame.

We need to talk why thieves thrive, scoundrels strive and depraved drive. We need to talk why the wicked choose and the innocent lose, why the insincere prevail and the sincere travail, why the devious rule and the devout growl. We need to talk why man is hollow, mind is shallow, head is callow and heart is yellow.

Tell me why rich lie, poor die, innocent cry and guilty fly. Tell me why some sell honor and others keep it. Tell me why some cringe and others hit. Tell me why some are shy, others defy, some defeat, others retreat. Tell me why some sweat and others wait, why some

fast and others feast, why there is angel, why there is beast.

I want to know why plants grow. I want to find why some are blind. I want to understand why some pretend, others defend, many intend, few withstand. I want to know why fireflies glow, turtles are slow, rains fall, and crocodiles crawl. I want to learn why the world turns, heart burns, and river churns. I am eager why fox is clever, dogs bark for ever, lions roar and eagles soar. Come sit with me. Let us talk about plant and tree. Let us talk about fruits and flowers, let us talk about seeds and showers. Let us talk about stars and moon, let us talk about sugar and spoon.

Come talk to me head to head. Let us talk about life and death, let us talk about want and wealth, loss and gain, sunshine and rain. Let us talk about beginning and end, let us talk about straight line and bend. Let us talk about greed and need, let us talk about sloth and speed, let us talk about caste and

creed. Let us talk about bank and money, let us talk about milk and honey, bribe and bunny, cloudy and sunny, sad and funny.

Let us talk about today and tomorrow, let us talk about joy and sorrow, lend and borrow, bow and arrow, wide and narrow, hawk and sparrow. Let us talk about knowledge and ignorance, wisdom and arrogance, sin and penance, stammering and eloquence. Let us talk about paddy and husk, face and mask, toil and task, dawn and dusk. Let us talk about faith and God, let us talk about even and odd, pea and pod, reed and rod.

Why does it snow, I must know. Why does it rain, try to explain. Why it is hot, tell me you big shot. Why it is cold, don't ask me to hold. Tell me quick, before I speak. Tell me now, before I row. Why some birds walk, others fly? Why some men laugh, others cry? Why are there the earth and the sky? Why do people live and die? Why flowers bloom, dreams doom and dangers loom? Why some smother, others bother, go away and come together?

Life is strife, death is rife, pain is pervasive, pleasure is evasive, come and go, fast and slow. Come to me and think, drink and sink. Let us go from link to link, let us go from brink to brink, let us expand, and let us shrink. Blood boils, body coils and mind roils. Spasm in muscles, chasm in heart, aching bones, groans and moans, beginning and end, earn and spend, bring and send, damage and mend. From

womb to tomb, from dust to dust, what begins with love and lust, you and I, let us try. Come to me head to head, speck and speck to gather and spread. You and I, born to die, flesh and blood, water and mud, now and then, ink and pen.

Let us talk, idle and senseless. Let us talk incoherent and endless. In the end, all that patter doesn't matter, because gain is vain, sacred is profane, preservation is decay, excuse is okay. In the end knowledge is ignorance, forgiveness is vengeance, near is distant, change is constant. In the end, you and I cherish, you and I perish. However, nothing lasts forever.

Come head to head, heart to heart, soul to soul-two sparks of eternity, two blips of humanity, two charges of electricity. Let us knock, let us talk. Seize this moment, speak your mind. Let us not worry, cruel or kind. Each day goes, silence grows. If we are fire, words are smoke. If we are serious, life is a joke. We wane and words wax. Let us talk and let us relax. Life is a maze like bird in a cage. It lasts as longs as it takes to erase.

Mohammad Badrul Ahsan is a banker.