By S.Sarwar Malik
DESPATCH-I
WAILS OF THE VALE
(Transcription of a small poem,from the writer’s kashmiri opera,Gatte Patte Gaash; Written in 1991: ADDRESSED TO ALL READERS)
Who
Axed our Chinars
And harpooned
The temple-ponds;
Blistered with bile
My liver asks
Who spilled blood?
On my verdure;
Boils abound
The Pine-wood breast
Yet the pain
Would subside if,
My hand could find
A place to sooth.
With dust of aeons
Settled on glass
And hands of clock
Forgotten somewhere;
Numberless islands
Have erupted
In the Jhelum;
As unfamiliar breath
Separates
The mates of age,
Beds freeze at night
As winter loneliness
Creeps;
Wrinkled countenance
And hands shiver;
Time has embarked
On the wild-run;
Flight of crows
Raise the din.
Flights of crows
Raise the din.
Floral curls
Dishevelled on mat;
Who torched
The votive- threads
Of shrines,
Furrowing milk-teeth
In the graveyard.
Who made my kids?
Babble
An alien lingo,
Silencing
Eloquence of the
Ecstatic words,
Learnt in the lap of
Saint’s mother*,
(*Lul Ded)
Trampled beneath goes
Our own heart,
When shall we correct
The staggering gait? ///
Despatch – ll
(Another small poem, ‘CALL’; written in 1991: ADDRESSED TO SOME YOUTH AND THEIR GRIEVING MOTHERS)
C A L L
Crouching slowly
To comb the tousled strands
Of my poem
The moist breeze of ideas
Had begun to ferry
The landscape of words
When rushes shrieked
And harps in hedges
Went mute
(- hearing her voice)/
“Of one colour you will find
The votive threads and my veil,
Same flicker you will find
Of my eyes and the lamps
(-placed on Karevas)
What is strewn on every path?
Flowers or blood?
Who can tell ?
Willow tresses, song of brooks
Unkempt hair and my call.
Arms outstretched
Pines and chinar
Keep vigil with me
For a glimpse of you./
Still in dalliance
(-with a dream)?
Captive ?
Eliminated ?
-upstream
Speak up child
Hear my call./
See your sibling
Arisen today
Demanding in his own calmer way
For your father’s piece of land
That we wish to till & embellish
With our own hand./
I used to tell you
To emulate his temper
You listened not
So I thought
Time will calm you
Or balm me with forbearance
But I was wrong
Gashes weep
Pains shriek
Parched voice words my call/
Wish you return
Suddenly
And cup my eyes
From behind
Whispering softly
The name you gave me
Before I could think of one,
For you, my child
(“- Ma ”).//
Despatch -lll
(Rendition of the well known small Nazm “Dashte Tanehaye Main” of Faiz Ahmed Faiz: ADDRESSED TO ALL DESPAIRING SOULS)
ROSES IN DECEMBER
In this desolate expanse
Of loneliness
Now and then I see
My love
Trembling shadows of your voice
Beckoning mirages of your lips
Emerging through
The dusty thistles
Of distance
I see abloom
Roses and jasmine
Of your countenance
Close by
The fire of your breath rises up
-smouldering slowly in its own fragrance
And there
Beneath the distant horizon
Descends lightly
Drop by drop
The glistening dew
Of your loving glance
Soothed by the touch of your memory
O Love
My heart tends to believe
The night of union has arrived
The day of separation has ended
When in reality
The wee hours of separation
Have just begun.///
Despatch – lV
(On the unnerving-unemployment-problem of J&K and ‘the apparent embargo on the absorption in Government offices’)
‘FOR YOU TOO , SIR’
As our Health Care & Education sectors are thirsting for adequate manpower, (especially in rural areas) that can be easily satiated with the locally available human resource, the author humbly addresses Some Verses , appearing herein under to the planners and executors sitting in highest echelons, hoping that requisite concrete steps (…purely on humanitarian basis, in right earnest…. understanding that topographical realities of J&K dictate that Government sector has a “large job-absorption capacity”) will be announced without further delay….so that our grieving ‘IDLE NUMBER’ receives balm through this token contribution in visionary vein.This will be also , ( the author hopes) a step towards the betterment of economy by producing more productive humans- who can contribute if nurtured as potential & actual resource in an affordable environ.
Propelled by the Directive principles enshrined in the constitution and the concept of welfare state, compassionate views can be taken, it is hoped, by the Government for timely intervention, lest our youth fall further down the ‘depression & drug drains’.
‘Let me not tarry here longer, … (continues the author)…and proceed directly to address these verses to the ones sitting in the highest chairs’ :
“….in the golden tray of your munificence
If there is
A shawl that can soothe
Spread it on that part of the body
Where it hurts the most
..Spread the velvet of your clothes
Under our aching feet”///
- The author is a Srinagar based Penman, Columnist & Poet, who has been contributing write ups to newspapers & literary journals from over two decades
Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now
Be Part of Quality Journalism |
Quality journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce and despite all the hardships we still do it. Our reporters and editors are working overtime in Kashmir and beyond to cover what you care about, break big stories, and expose injustices that can change lives. Today more people are reading Kashmir Observer than ever, but only a handful are paying while advertising revenues are falling fast. |
| ACT NOW |
| MONTHLY | Rs 100 |  |
| YEARLY | Rs 1000 | |
| LIFETIME | Rs 10000 | |
