POETS’ CORNER

Verse forever

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language

And next year’s words await another voice.

And to make an end is to make a beginning.

-T.S. Eliot

Silent companions

By Mashaal Farid

You talk about loneliness

and write about what it tastes like

In a shed with few shadows

That stares with eyes that won’t see

They hug with hands that can’t hold

You ask to be left in peace;

a peace no noise could cease

But the emptiness wouldn’t go away,

The shallowness lasts

And the heartbreak stays.

A puzzle named world

By Nazish Sabir

Arid land,

Silent waves,

mysterious terrain,

Stones and rocks,

Lost in chaos,

Strangled by inconclusive thoughts,

A bleak spot,

yet a desired place to live at.

Grief history of time

By Amna Ameer

I will not show my grief

To the ones who come

For a feast

Feeding on my vulnerabilities

Trying their best

To taste how it feels

To be broken

To let your tears dry

After hours of bawling

Days of bargaining

Nights to trying to make sense

Of what is going on

In this world

And afterlife

I will not distribute my sadness

Like tickets to a show

Ones where others will cheer

Every time I fall

And stumble

And break

Here’s to raising a glass

At the blood monsters

And soul mongers

Trying to sell our bodies

In the market of prostitution

Where the greatest bid

Is for the one

Most grief stricken

And then they savour it

In a grand feast

Like an exhibition

Of most power

The ability to look down

And pity the one with loss

While what you have

Is in abundance

It is easy

To spread charity

When you don’t have to worry

About staying alive

When a part of you

Is not rotting

In the ground

And autumn isn’t peering

At you from the corner

Of Nature’s eyes

And you know your demise is here

But it will only occur

When a funeral is led

With your corpse

One that is laden with desires

Put to rest once and for all

Clothed in a grief

They tried their best

To define you by

I will not

Put on a show of despair

For an audience

That already has put bets

On whether I’ll survive

Or cave in

To the pressure of death

All I know is

After years of struggling

Is that I will only share

My grief

With the ones

Who deserve it.

Compiled by SK