peace
The tragedy is that the breeze of bitterness
And stink of conflict
Comes from the garden of either side
The irony is that both side suspect
Spring has come only after bathing in the enemy’s blood
Such is the situation of such brutality that now
Neither your feet are intact nor my hands
Victory is not yours
Nor defeat is mine
No one stands by you
Nor have I anyone with me
The helpless voiceless people of our towns
Are buried in thousands of mounds of sorrow
Nor their bleak fatedness seeks the glow of lamps
People who for half a century
Have lived in dense darkness
Such lamps have spread the light of love
Lamps which enlighten the heart’s sanctuaries
Lamps that grant the glow of peace
Lamp which in turn light countless more lamps
Friends! I’ve come to your country this time
Neither for musical company nor poetry
If it is a question of your ego
I extend my hand in friendship , first!”
Ahmed Faraz
Trees Had Eyes Once
Trees had eyes once,
I could swear,
I know for sure
That when I was a tree I could see,
I remember being in wonder
At the peculiar wings of birds
As they passed in front of me,
But whether the birds guessed my eyes,
I can no longer tell.
Now I look in vain for the eyes of trees
Perhaps I cannot see them
Because I’m a tree no more,
Or perhaps they’ve gone down through their roots
Into the ground,
Or perhaps
Who knows
So it seemed only to me
And trees have been blind from the beginning…
But then why
When to them I come close
Do I feel how
They follow me with their glances
In a familiar way,
Why, when they rustle and blink
With their thousands of eyelids,
Do I feel like shouting-.
Anna Blandiana
Is it Possible!
No more hunger and pain
News of scavenging children
It is twenty-first century
It wants to breath free
if possible
without terror or fear
roam unrestricted
From here to there
All the Smells and sounds
of this beautiful earth
Are for me and you alike
With floating clouds
and flowing rivers
We are blooming flowers
Swaying happily in breeze
Let us not waste ourselves
before we wither
Flowing rivers still reflect
desires in deep blue ocean
What is there for us to ponder
Death is not the life’s only killer
Disrespect never
Misuse not what you have!
Shail Agrawal
—000—