POETS’ CORNER

Poems forever

Sweet melody

By Hafiz Shirazi

Come so the rose we may spread, and, let wine into the goblet flow.

The roof of the sky we may cleave; and a new way seek more aglow.

If an army, the shedder of lovers’ blood, raise sorrow

The Saki and I may join and its foundation pull thorough.

The rose water we pour into the goblet of ruddy wine:

Into the censer of the wind, the sugar and perfume, we cast in twine.

Minstrel! In thy hand resteth a merry instrument, a sweet melody play:

So we may sing a love-song, and dance to the merry note sans delay.

O breeze! To the abode of the Beloved, the soul of ours take;

That the Monarch of the lovely mayest deign our glance’s sake

Of reason, one boasteth; another idle talk doth weave:

Come and to the just Umpire these disputes leave.

Come with us to the tavern if the Garden of Eden thou pine for;

So thee, we may cast at once into the pool of abundance galore.

In Shiraz, the verse, and eloquence, they do not know:

HAFIZ! Come so to another land, we may go.

- Translated by Ismail Salami

Silence

By Ali Asghar Ghani

Silence

is a dense, semi penetrable

forest of unheard words

which can be crossed only by the

heart

Expectation

By Eisha Imran

Everybody keeps telling me

but should I listen?

They want me to do things their way.

But hey, I am thinking

with a hand under my chin.

It’s my life people, stop making it worse day by day.

Either I give up living

according to others’ expectations.

Or just live a life my way, instead.

In that case I have a choice

to follow my ambition.

I’ll make the decision sooner or later.

Parkinson’s disease.

By Mahvesh Farooqi

I shiver

And tremble,

To hold and write...

I feel so shaky,

Every while.

My movements uncontrolled,

The tremors jolt me from inside

Parkinson’s has deeply afflicted my life,

I keep up my will-power,

To fight this rough fight

Let’s build dams

By Naad-e-Ali Khan

For the sake of life in the world

For the survival of every animal and bird

For the lively smiles, on the face of people

We need to build dams, rather than steeple

My country is thirsty, my rivers are dry

I don’t want to let my field and trees cry

I wish to see my country growing green

I promise to keep my school tidy and clean

Let’s build dams to preserve nature

Let’s build dams to secure our future

Compiled by SK