Ashes of War : Zulfiqar Naqvi

Ashes of War

Zulfiqar Naqvi

Everywhere was smoke to make us weep unto the most,

When the hamlet caught the fire, left neither guest nor host.

A strange, radiant heat enveloped me all around,

Whose flames clung to my dust like a grieving ghost.

My voice echoed deeply within those chests of stone,

Till the dragons in their hearts were moved from innermost.

O God! Send Thy man, before whose lasting love and fear,

The Ego faints, and the Lord of Cruelty flees his post.

I was born to weep alone, I did, but why?

At the end, King and Beggar mourn from every coast.

The rivers carried blood for miles beneath the crimson sky,

While every wounded soul sought refuge at some distant coast.

The swords proclaimed their fleeting pride before the trembling crowd,

Yet dust shall be the final fate of every ruthless boast.

(Zulfiqar Naqvi  is a prolific Urdu/English poet, writer and former announcer with All India Radio. He has served as the Chief Editor of Insight Weekly and is the Founder-President of Muntaha-e-Fikr, an international literary organisation. He is a retired Principal of the School Education Department, Jammu & Kashmir.)