POETS’ CORNER

Bittersweet truths

By Urwah mushtaq

I am bold and bruised,

I am a masterpiece,

I have been beaten up by catastrophes,

I have risen back from the ashes,

I am the master of my yesterdays

And a slave of ‘what could have been’,

I am the brightest star in this dark,

I am a fragile flower that got withered away amid the storms of agony,

I am everything and nothing,

I am the glory and the dirt you threw upon me,

I am a miracle walking down the streets, singing of all the possibilities, reminding you of my braveries

I am only a human with imperfections,

I am no one but someone who is living a different reality,

I am a loser, a warrior and the survivor of all that you could never see

I am my own friend and enemy,

I am a creator, a worshipper and everything in between.

Decaying in silence

By Tahreem Asghar

I lay there

In this rotting silence

Clenching my jaws

And fists, I rot in this silence

Like the blazing fire’s smoke

The memories cloud up in my mind

Suffocating me in the little air left

I choke and fight for the last breaths

That I force in

Poems forever

Over hill, over dale

A wood near Athens. A Fairy speaks.

Over hill, over dale,

Thorough bush, thorough brier,

Over park, over pale,

Thorough flood, thorough fire

I do wander every where,

Swifter than the moon’s sphere;

And I serve the fairy queen,

To dew her orbs upon the green:

The cowslips tall her pensioners be;

In their gold coats spots you see;

Those be rubies, fairy favours,

In those freckles live their savours:

I must go seek some dew-drops here

And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear.

Farewell, thou lob of spirits: I’ll be gone;

Our queen and all her elves come here anon.

From A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

The curse

By Pariwash Abid

Gloomy houses all around,

Filled up with death wherever found.

Heart breaking moments one by one,

Happiness, pleasure faced by none.

Abandoned streets, empty roads,

Hey, it’s lockdown everywhere.

Locked parks on my way,

Horrid hours day after day.

The masses are living in fear,

In the oceans filled with tears

Hoping this virus will go away soon,

To enjoy a healthy and safe fortune.

Compiled by SK