Poetic insights

Poor and content is rich, and rich enough.

-William Shakespeare

What the imagination seizes as beauty must be truth.

-John Keats

Errors like straws, upon the surface flow;

He who would search for pearls must dive below.

-John Dryden

They who inspire it most are fortunate

As I am now; but those who feel it most

Are happier still.

-Percy Bysshe Shelley

Vision

By Momina Hassan

Lying lifelessly when the night falls

And the stars illuminate my heart

My eyes are shut but the sight is clear

The heavenly vision sets my heart ablaze

A place I am destined to be

Rays of hope blinding the sun

Shadows of trees dance apart

While the ocean flows rapidly like my thoughts

The melodious humming of birds serenade my soul

The gentle breeze plays with my hair

When the sympathetic drops of few purify my heart

Staring at the edge of the horizon

Where the sky meets the sea

Where all the voices are shut out and the victory is of peace

Song of life

By Mashaal Farid

And now,

those strokes from dreams

Hit the drums with a thunder

Having some beats of torment;

Shaping into salty droplets,

Upon the high metallic base.

Oh life! Do you know?

I once just tried to compose you

On a soft melodic violin.

Internal asylums

By Gulrez Umar

Sometimes,

When it is a stark winter in my soul

And the fall casts a murky spell of gloom

I wander off to seek refuge

In the dimly lit alleys of my mind,

Conjure up a quill and paper

And write to the august winds:

“Beloved autumn gales!

Take these foreign storms away

Bring me back the despair that I felt at home with

Fly my scent to the vultures in the far east

Tonight I’ll let them feast on my flesh

For they need to live

And I need some pain to mellow the chaos in my mind

Autumn gales,

Blow life into this horde of dark nimbi

Make them rumble a haunting tune

That will deafen my ears

Because the screams grow louder on these empty roads

While sanity is slipping”