POETRY COMPETITION

The judges

Javeria Shakil: Worked at Us and Oped desks, The News, Karachi. She teaches journalism and creative writing courses at a private university in Karachi.

Kausar Shigri: Dean of English, Primary Section, The Mama Parsi School, Karachi

A place of serenity

By Erica AQ

Why don’t we run away?

To a place of serenity

Where silk-woven stars reside

And the moon is luminous and bright

Where the skies are a shade of sapphire

And the lakes are aquamarine

Where fae and faeries meet

And unicorns and dragons speak

A place that grants peace

And an escape from reality

But does it even exist?

A place of serenity

Eternal grief

By Tahreem Asghar

Summer has begun

But why is the wind still cold?

My heart is here

But where did the beat go?

The days begin and end

But where did the will go?

I breathe the same air as others

But why does it make me choke?

I stand under the vast sky

But nothing feels like home

In the dust I lie

But why does it tell me to go?

The air smells of yesterdays

But why am I weeping alone?

My heart aches

But where did the words go?

I stood in the mustard field

But where did your brace go?

I run but all the roads

I take, take me back to my mind and soul

Summer has begun

But why is the wind still cold?

My heart is here

But where did the beat go...

To fight

By Amna Ameer

I was carrying what felt like an immense weight

Inside my chest

There lay buried

Worries and solemn sighs

Ones that triggered my heart

Like pulling a cord

Of a past unknown

I kept walking in the dark

Feeling my way through

Looking for meaning

Of what it meant

To carry a lie

Of a life made of shadows

When you’ve never breathed

In your own light

So as the deep darkness

Loomed over me

And took with it

My sense of survival and death

Though I was passing one day and the next

It had yet to dawn on me

What it meant to live

This winter took from me

The very will to exist

And as I was camouflaged

With the events of my life

Like an anonymous sacrifice

And self sabotage

I looked for an answer

Amidst a myriad of questions

From within the rising mist

Of freezing cold

Came a piercing answer

Burning my skin

It was a tear tracing my face

Oblivious of this act of surrendering

I for the first time felt human

For I too deserved

To hurt and feel pain

To bleed and bruise

And feel alive again

As I let the pain sink within

I came ashore

Now I wasn’t a lifeless corpse

Surfacing over my insecurities

But I was a person

Meant to live fully

Walking on shores and pavements

However way I liked

For even if I stumble and fall

It is within me to fight

Goodbye

By Hira Nasir

There were tears in my eyes

Yet I stood there firm

I couldn’t look up,

I was afraid I’d fall.

Goodbyes are hard,

This one was the hardest.

End of an era,

End of the laughter.

The flashback continued,

The events flew by

The vision blurred,

While I hugged you goodbye.

I’m sitting here alone

Thinking of all those times,

Remember that one where we stayed up all night,

Or that one where we came back late

Or even that one where we were late for class

There are so many,

So many memories to contain

It’s hard, oh so hard

To leave you all again.

I pray and wish

That you all be happy where you are

We’ll meet again,

I know this by heart.

Until then

Goodbye!

I’ll remember you all.

Depression antidote

By Ali Asghar Ghani

Alas!

In the dead of night

when jackals in distant mountains howl

Like a nocturnal animal

dark knight from woods behind my eyes roams

Piercing black eyes, wand in hand,

riding a fire-breathing dragon

Gaze up at the stars in the sky;

white and happy

Sigh!

Paint the stars black with flick of wand

darkness begins to creep in the kingdom within

dragon breathes out flames of blazing fire

burn down castles of summer and spring

Soars from ashes eternal dark winter

Swells with fire and blood the realm within

Hurrah!

Like a knight in shining armour, the words I write

slay the dark knight

living in the dense, impenetrable forest behind

my eyes

All is not lost

By Zarmeen Khalid

The paths I tread, ooze your scent

Oh, the charmer of hearts!

Catch my whiff, hold my hand, follow me afar

Lo and behold! The rugged terrain be reborn

Let the smoke and euphoria sunder

Hear what the alleys chant;

Everthine, evermine, everours

The decree of perpetuity

The dimensions I breech,

break the jinx to clasp our souls

Aeons pass by,

yet, it never gets old

Ripple, my charmer,

for, all is not lost!

No one does

By Hafza Noor

For all and for once,

I looked back

And I didn’t freeze.

Neither did you,

No one does,

Years passed and also days!

I freeze now

Between the moments,

Among the people,

You didn’t

But I do.