POETS’ CORNER

Poems forever

A moment of happiness

By Jalaluddin Rumi

A moment of happiness,

you and I sitting on the verandah,

apparently two, but one in soul, you and I.

We feel the flowing water of life here,

you and I, with the garden's beauty

and the birds singing.

The stars will be watching us,

and we will show them

what it is to be a thin crescent moon.

You and I unselfed, will be together,

indifferent to idle speculation, you and I.

The parrots of heaven will be cracking sugar

as we laugh together, you and I.

In one form upon this earth,

and in another form in a timeless sweet land.

Old Age

By Ruman Aftab

When you’re cold in the middle of the night

And think of days long gone,

But a little more thought gives way to fright—

Will my bones be tender when I’m old and gray?

I recall the last summer day,

Sitting beneath a pine-scented tree,

Walking on freshly cut grass where I lay,

As the cranky chirps of grasshoppers sang to me.

How the stars change with every sight,

Restless peasants in the night,

They'll fade with their own sparkles, too—

Tender your happiness, all you can do is rue.

My heart throbs like thunder within,

Fearing the memories that will thin.

I recollect them now in tranquil light—

Alas! If they slip from my grasp, gone from sight.

Yet I shall never be forlorn,

For I wear these memories, both bright and worn,

Both joyous and gray,

Guiding me through the night, finding my way.

All night long,

When I think of what is gone,

I leap into fear of what might go wrong—

When old age comes, when you are gray,

When you stumble in dismay.

Sense of being

By Amna Ameer

It is pouring outside

Not different from

The drowning in my chest

Someone opened

The flood gates

Last night

May be sorrow

Also needed

A place to rest

They took the last

Inch of hope

And tore it to shreds

I don't know

What will become of this

For now it’s all a mess

Everything is amalgamated

Into a thing called life

I wish I didn't hold on to it

Last night

Where would I go?

A place where sadness took me?

Into the unknown

Or the same scars of familiarity?

Would I finally leave

To set a new journey

A place that death can't touch

For I would be devoured by mortality

What more can this world take from me?

My life, this life

My heart, this heart

My mind, this mind

My words,

These words

Will once again

Be washed

In the August rains

With no trace

Or sense of being