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ITALIAN PIZZA

Life is a gift,

And what we get in this parcel

Some friends

Friends includes enemies also

Because those close to you

To whose expectations

You don’t come up

Turn tail and become bitter

The bitterest rivalries are rather, found

Within the boundaries of blood

When land is divided

People forget they are brothers.

What we saw during Partition? 

Why go far away?

What was Mahabharata?

Life is always under constant threat.

And all the people who look neutral

Who neither belong to you

Nor are concerned with you

But are essential services

Provided by gods to carry on

The caravan of life

And make this gift look

Worthy, precious, and somehow meaningful.

At the end when we look back,

We see our wisdom

Had taken the back seat

And our folly fronted our fight

Folly too is like wisdom antagonized

Wisdom when over used

Overwrought, over thought,

Loses its essential character

And turns folly.

There is no dearth of wisdom

In this world

After all, it is the cream

In which a hundred ingredients

Of the cake are made palatable

And men are made to eat things

Which cannot be digested

In naked form.

Why we get life?

Why men were thrown on this earth?

Was it not a punishment?

Do you think there is any change

In original command?

What is to be proud of?

Yes we need wisdom to fight off

This bitter gift of life which is

Placed before us like Italian Pizza.

***

MULTI-STOREYED DESPAIR

Objects around us extend 

A supportive hand

To lean on

Should we happen

To lose our balance

When we lose our balance

We look for support

Here and there

Which is second best only

For the best thing is our balance

When a heart breaks,

It seeks support from darker cells

Where broken souls

Are nursed

With indifferent caresses.

Men who lose faith

In their Isht (God)

Hit the bottle

There are stones aplenty

To support their stumbling passions

Nature was a perfect support system

Gods had created for us

But birds and trees

Felt helpless

Before my multi-storeyed despair.

After God, if anything supported me

It was love,

Now what supports me

Are broken wishes

And some widowed hopes.

_____________________ 

Published under International Cooperation with "Sindh Courier"