Tanhai (Solitude)
By Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Someone, finally, is here! No, unhappy heart, no one -
just a passerby on his way.
The night has surrendered
to clouds of scattered stars.
The lamps in the hall waver.
Having listened with longing for steps,
the roads too are fast asleep.
A strange dust has buried every footprint.
Blow out the lamps, break the glasses, erase
all memory of wine. Heart,
bolt forever your sleepless doors,
tell every dream that knocks to go away.
No one, now no one will ever return.
Translated by Agha Shahid Ali
Fungal infection
By Haseeb Sultan
Sometimes you don’t need
air to grow,
sometimes food
is all stale.
So with a body
to save
and an ego
to waste
one takes nothing fresh.
All there is
to inhale
are used up
unarticulated,
unrecycled,
and dead meat
thoughts
making them
the only
thing
our bodies crave.
Romance
By Shafi Rehman
The crispy sound of birds striking my ear
and the chord I struck is for you, my dear
A melody I composed was so rare
and I am sculpting my muse layer by layer
This fascinating relation of an artist and his muse
Sometimes in search of reality I become confuse
The law of nature seems to contradict this gravity
and I start complaining against your frivolity
No stone is unturned to build this statue
and who will pay the price of this virtue?
I have made my reflection through blood and sweat
and I know why this all carries a depth
In search of her soul
By Hira Shamim
Beneath the covering of sky.
With the chirping of bugs.
With the dark all around
With no men on the ground
All lost in her grief with a heavy heart
On that way she keeps on moving
She keeps on pondering
All alone in that dark
She keeps on walking
She keeps on searching
Looking for her soul
Searching for her soul
That has gone somewhere
That is lost somewhere!!!
Acceptance
By Mehvish Ghani
Wandering in streets,
Feeding my lust.
Your adieu
Failed to cause,
Much wreckage, though.
Redolent
By Bushra Mustafa
Amidst the mystic silence,
and agonies of unheard voice;
she was the ruler,
of the valley of chaos.
Fatal slumber
By Rafiya Zafar
I see
nightmares in sunlight,
streets drenched in blood,
corpse over corpse,
chaos sings in the backdrop,
Yet not a soul shivers,
Or a conscience stirs,
But a slumber prevails.
You should come and see
the fatal fruit of democracy
Making of life
By Iqra Maqsood
In the gallery of irony and conflicts;
I discovered the making of life,
Abandoned myriad shades of hue;
Falling from the sky,
Diving deep into the Earth’s canvas;
Determined to make it glorious,
Battling to chain the beasts around;
Insensately carrying the beasts inside,
The bond of happiness and grief;
Stood the same for the peasant and the chief,
A million shades of white and afros;
Sharing the same blood and the Lord,
Paints the world with a two-headed brush;
Vanishes with hatred,
Brightens with love.
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