Poetry from Another Realm--Dr. Riaz Ahmad

                A Realm of Glows   What a misery ! The  life ’s  full of care, Always  chased by horrors  and sc are, A  mind  embattled ,  aye  timid and sly , World  were the viper , a moan, a sigh .   And i ncarcerated in the   fragile  frame, The   C urator ’s there, bearing  no  name, A  scuffle  goes,   self and non - self  ‘twixt, Mirage or  the  reality, the  muse twist ?   Stealing into the core , one driving force, Needs an earthy bowl, to run the  course , T o  diversities  tricked,  where reasons fail, Going  Inebriate with the  soft glow of ale!   Why ’s   the I nfinite within narrow bounds? A whisper remote, to the melody sounds , An a wful dependence on temporal needs, The image or reflection, my heart bleeds?   Probing deeper, ‘twert  a world of its own, Soari...

           Bemoaning Meadows   A tale of woes, we meadows unfold, Changing seasons ,  thrilled us untold, Slaves to the ploughs’ spikes, we are, Planes cruelly torn, abide many a scar.   Victim of floods, with droughts at war, Wearing sheets of frost, near and afar, Sneaking thru an ordeal, O back to life, Ages gone, ah no one noted our strife!   Soothe  man’s  wants, robbed of treasure, Cracks bridged, never to cost of measure, Nursing gene ration,  humans and the wild , We weathered horrors, ah for love smiled.   Bonded slaves we were, to ambitions wild,  Nursing avarice,  hidden  thine spears styled, Brethren’s blood, had trickled in my breast, An irony! Why must you call, humans blest?   Wring  from  thy  eyes,  thy-selves the censure, Hast thou forgot, life’s a sojourn, still unsure, You laughed  it out, and fire escaped thy lips, You’d lit the inferno, aye nestled in ...

                  A Cry from Fool’s Paradise   A loner  I am, who trod chalked paths, my  own, In verdure and bloom , I had  my  passions grown, Living in paradise  of my  own,  ah  bigoted  I  grew, A  tangled   mind , o n  the  time’s  altar  I my self slew .   Of an awesome deception, was born and risen , Fond  sights  and  cloying  dreams,  was  my  prison , Raising my  idols,  I  had awfully glittered bright, The gilt’s décor around,  I ’d  raised an ideal sight .   I’d  live d my  universe,  full of bloom and  scent s , Stumbling leisurely,  I opened my  hearts vents , Fount s  played my  fancy, ah  I fanned my  desire , Fortune w ould  smile  on me , for lifetime entire !   My  illusionary garden,  scents...

                 A  Lad Advised   O Lad !  Unmask thine face, in light fair, Unveil thine eyes, thru obstacles dare, Never  stumble in  dark,  and go forlorn, Nay in the arena, with thine heart torn.   Shun the  deals , the gain-less  and slight , The flitting glamour for thy soul’s might, Shun the detour, tread thy course aright , Amid airs, fancies , seemingly tho ’  bright !   You may  h ave tried arts! Of love and glee , Fetter thy foot loose and thine  fancy free, Beguile d and ushered ,  to dark and shame, The rosy lips, roving eyes, ruins and  blame .   May be, a beast is  a roused, in breast  wild, Invadi ng thine heart; and the purity chide, On hideous altar, merciless thy heart bleed, Fuelling profanity, frivolity, avarice ah  greed.   O my  lad ! I wish  thee,  honey  of work  return, A spark to ignite the fl...

                 A  Cycle  on the Go Lo the darkness of night unwraps bright, The climbing Sun scattering golden light; Emerging twilight enwraps the Sun anon, Stealthily  to the dark, a cycle thus drawn.   Rose has blushed, the scent hangs in air, The beauty has smiled, unsullied and fair, Butterflies drifting around ah their delight The waning spirit of youth, beckons blight.   Stars glitter in dark and the Moon in silver, Spreading a cool sheen as shadows hover, But they have an end too, painting the life, The feast is done, open the doors of strife !   The life ha s its cycles true , behold its shades Of infancy, youth and the old age till it fades, Tracing its path back, wherefrom it had come, Why  notion of death ? The cycle speaks dumb.   Oh breeze! If you drift by me, in a garden close, The missive I entrust unto thee, of me and rose, I hadn’t trusted the word of foe, bring me calm In the f lush...

                             An odyssey  O winds take my soft breaths to the destiny afar, Mingled with the floral aroma, a door stands ajar Stealthily enter to make way thru the dense haze, Let me avow, a dreamy scenario, murky yet ablaze.   A bright day, a dark night, a vision and there’s none, Thoughts flow, reasons falter, schools of events run, The mysterious silence whispers its breaths so close, Waving but unheard betwixt petals of a damask rose!   An alien space wherein I stand on a tormented shore, In ever spreading horizons I had never visited before, The grains of flaxen sand and so swiftly they’d creep Steeped in my glitzy tears, my intense shame I weep.   My life is gruesomely chequered with bliss and woes, Ironically bliss pains and woes charm, as my life flows, Dazzling bright or macabre paths I’d all thru followed, Whims so close at my heels but a flicker I’d borrowed.   O...

                     Fate thy verity   An intertwined web, the crossways of life, Where’s the fate? To oversee  man’s strife, Now a master, ah then   a  puppet  to adapt And drop curtsy to an   unseen  fate ’ s craft.     How must the destiny work? No one knows, A man works or not, the unseen wind blows, Who works its tones? Kind or slashing harsh, Sand s to ve rdure,  yet water seeping to marsh.   So  baffling  thy  role!  Ah   t he duality of thy  face, Now a pleasantry; then don scowls of disgrace, Countless years rolled on,  bring forth the view Of thy verity and baffling enigma, for long due.   O Fate , thou  hast but  never worked on water, Change its role,  why must ye slay men at altar? Nay on the Sun to mislay or the Moon lose light, Ye won’t lay hands on the predestined, thy fate!   The Providence hath granted...

                       A flower’s tale   Silent and pondering, to a garden I went , My  mind  alert , muse high and gaze bent , How come! The floral beauty thus grown, On a  supple shoot;  to winds were blown.   My eyes riveted to a flower, near  I drew, On petal tips ;   smiled  there  lustrous  dew, The flower spoke itself out, ah wept a  lot, It danced in leisure, amid mystery caught.   “I smile with nature, bouncing  scent in glee, Ah a victim,  to the victors on rampage free, Insects, butterflies and bees to  hover about, Of the joyous kids around,  to play  and shout. ”   “Nature shalt slay; its dagger thru entire me, My life to the seed and my nectar to the bee, Play a  tool in nature’s hands aye I wert  made, Soon  I  shalt pine away and mine beauty fade. ”   “ Withered , a day  I’ll   d...

                     My  nightly  prayer With shattered dreams and fractured ego, With my  broken heart and  so  deep in woe, Here’s all dark, ah in an  abyss of biting pain, There I grope about, and  piteously  to  wane.   In  my total accolade ’fore Thee I’m to  bow, In the humble prostration;  down I  shall  go,  The tears’ torrent and my  eyes  shall  bedim, Just sunken hollows ,  the dark haloes  so  rim.   Thou  knowest  my throes, and  ripping pain, Those losses incurred with  my trifling gain, My thought s, my lapses and my actions all , My  humble rise , ah  chased by grievous fall.   O Lord! Thou know my heart and  my soul, My pace, my stride and the  cherished goal, My ambitions, mine wishes and all earnest, My devotion, the devoutness and the zest!   With par...