One day your books will burn
Crackling crisply on a roaring pyre of
Black burning fire
Ravenously consuming
Your words made mortal by pen and ink
And you will watch
One day your books will burn
Your lessons of hate and violence
Wiped from the world
Volume upon volume
Of injustice and lies set alight
As you lose your dark sway
Garbed in righteousness
And you will watch
One day your books will burn
Burn and burn and burn
Until they yield
To embers, to ashes, to dust
To minute atoms that erupt into nothingness
And you will watch
The Other Way
By Bariyah Faisal
If I start looking at the world, the other way
Would I see the world flawless and pure?
Would I see sweetness in that bitter face?
Would I hear the melody in that harsh voice?
Would I see the beauty in that fake smile?
Would I feel the lighting of those burdens?
Would I find love in those black, empty eyes?
Tell me, would I?
The Darkest Secret
By Gul Bano
In the hues and shades
Comes the light
Splintering through the sky
Seeking a refuge
In a righteous body
To enliven its true sanctity
In its humblest demeanour
Does it come knocking
On every mortal's door?
Oblivious of the black soul
That has already haunted
The man within
Ignorant of the best kept secrets
That dwell within
It could but never
Break through the soft skin
Falsifying hearts made of stone
It could but only
Leave its somber glow
It keeps alive this futility
From dawn till dusk
Hopeless
It scatters back and forth
Until it disappears into the night again
Pop Ups
By Mehreen Mujeeb
The crescent moon behind the faraway tree,
Was smiling at another galaxy.
The dark grey clouds had the blues,
The sky in second place was traveling a floral cruise.
Just one star there was in that sky,
But it did not smile although it was high.
It was plotting some plan with distant lightning in a distant cloud,
Maybe scheming about how they would stitch my shroud.
The sky is like a translucent shadow of my mind,
Only parts it reveals, with others to find.
It's one thing to not feel or think,
Another to not know if you'll float or sink.
At times when I try to ponder,
I end up lost in wonder.
So much sand in my eyes to make me sleep,
The sand turns to mud when I dream too deep.
Through these years I've grown so cold,
In my own chest I fold.
Captured in self-made fences,
Which constrict so many of my senses.
The sky is still beautiful.
In Matter, Gone
by Vishal Raza
Ghostly imprint
Hologram image against black and white
Checks
Reclining, I lean in
Stillness of the air catches
Midway -
Goodbye kiss unfathomed
Play-dough cheeks
Brush
Lips that find familiarity
Solitary drop
On pathways
Knotted -
Whispers, from a trail of air
You left. Interspersed with secrets and scents -
Vigorous tempo, I find solace
In your being
Now a million lies away
Aching palms cool under your tempest eyes.
Minty sensation
Within hardened veins
I wade in limbo
Phantasmagoria of your
Movements, softly rushing
- Compiled by NA
How Could I...?
Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish,
How could I seek the empty world again?
Excerpted from a poem by Emily Bronte's poem, 'Remembrance' |
