Met a character from 1947
Only six at that time,
To recite his tale
Story of his sacrifice
Lost he all
His mother and objects of play
As they travelled
Through days of migration
To the river hydraotes
The river of many names
From Greek to Vedic times
Stands there he now,
In the land of pure
To look back
At the purpose and
Of sacrifices – him
And of his [...]
Faced with problems of commerce and trade,
In slogans we raise, our misery and fate
Great comfort we draw from rallies and protest
From voices we raise, from beatings we take
Remain there in place, the old hate in wait
From practitioners and proponents of their faith
Hold us in nearness as we move into this state
As change will come as [...]
As I scratch my head in pain and disbelief
With all the questions and of all this existence
What has befallen me and its mechanics?
As I see my world in disappearance
From faces to memories, all absorbed
By this quest, for peace and comfort
What shall I adapt fate or destiny
Or the wisdom from the books and experience
Will it hold [...]
Early in the morning with blurred looks,
The only clothes,the hardships and fate
In Sahara, where an ocean meets the desert
Sit three with wooden tablets and verses of Quran
Not much to lose, but enough to learn
As this ice melts when viewed from a distance
The only conversation is the old expression
Of wonder and resolve, as faces emerge
One day [...]
When you return
To the old village
In its awake, in its pebbles
Say my greetings as well
Where I spent my years
In its dust, in its greens
In its shadows, in its heatWhen you return
To the old land,
In its mountains, in its deserts
Where I travelled to find
You and myself,
Say my greetings as well
In its hunger, in its elation
In its [...]
In my dreams,
I see hands
Extended outwards
From the pain
Marks of this world
And its appearances
In black and white
To collect,
Tiny droplets of rain
In colours, unimaginable
To escape, for moments
Still lies there unresolved
All those promises
In my dreams,
I see faces,
In colours, in rainbows
From the years of mine
In existence, in absence
Of this world
And its appearances
In colours, unimaginable
To escape, for moments
Still lies there [...]
Carry they grudges like old traditions
As our politicians wrestle with our present
Open up their beginnings with marks of shame
In echo the words of reconciliation but actions
Different, as like old times, of fight and anger
As they move us around, as they hurl us into air
Carry they us the nation like unwanted gift
Away in the corner, deprived [...]
Wishing you success in all your life,
In the crucible
You’ll find me by your side.
But if my voice fades away,
Never stop;
Nor let your hopes suffer decay.
Dig five feet down,
Put in some straw, and fill the ditch.
The swelling ground
Will tell you where I am.
Shouldn’t you be in a different place?
Shouldn’t you be where life is beautiful?
As this square life and its dimensions
Work and sleep bring down its veil
Upon these tired bodies and soul
Talk us more on our lands, left behind
He asks “is everything intact “
As traditions plays havoc, in this continent
The only chance of us meeting up,
In air, [...]
As this old disease drips from his face
Of power and greed and its hold
“Do not protest if you lose”, he says,
Do not fight for your freedom, if you lose
Behind those doors and predetermined results
Why hold elections, why hold seminars,
What good can you bring to your people?
All those years you have spent, too late
Still there misery [...]
