Shahr se duur ja ke pheink aaya

Aur elaan kar diya ki utho

Barf si jam gai hai sinon mein

Garm boson se uss ko pighla do

Kar lo jo bhi gunah woh kam hai

Aaj ki raat jashn-e-adam hai

Yeh miri aastin se nikli

Rakh diya daud ke charaġh pe haath

Mal diya phir andhera chehre par

Hont se dil ki baat laut gaii

Dar tak aa ke baraat laut gaii

Uss ne mujh ko alag bula ke kaha

Aaj ki zindagi ka naam hai ḳhauf

Khauf hii who zamin hai jis mein

Firqe ugte hain firqe palte hain

Dhare sagar se kat ke chalte hain

Khauf jab tak dilon men baaqi hai

Sirf chehra badalte rahna hai

Sirf lahja badalte rahna hai

Koi mujh ko mita nahin sakta

Jashn-e-adam mana nahin sakta

She of the Many Faces

Hundreds of faces on one neck

And thousands of scars on each face

And every scar a closed door

That lets in no light

And lets out no light

The tank in the mosque is narrow-chested

The heart is a leaf plate that

Dogs keep licking away at

Once the pujaris are done

And then the dogs bite the gods

God knows which womb birthed her

God knows in which courtyard she grew

God knows which country the wretch came from

For she speaks in every tongue

And opens wounds as though they are windows

And then peering into the heart, she says

Your religion, your great God

The beautiful idols of your civilization

Danger engulfs everyone today

Darkness awaits the world after them

My blood runs cold

My open eyes shut

It seems as though everyone in the world is

An enemy and there are no friends

And the earth is swallowing me alive

It seems as though some ogre

A pitcher dangling from his waist

Will climb the sky before night ends

Squeeze out all the light

And snatch off my stars too

The earth’s bosom has cracked open

And the processions that have burst out of it

Tell me that I am one of them

If I am theirs then who am I?

I am no one’s; I am my own

I was birthed by solitude

All of me emanates from loneliness

Who will bother with me in a crowd?

The day I raise my feet in tandem with others

I will forget how to walk on my own

These and similar questions

Despite searching for them till this day

I have never found a trace of their parents

She pours these questions into my mind

She clenches me in her fist

I wish I could kill her

But when I strike her

Wounds break out on my breast

Blood drips from my forehead

God knows what binds me to her

I have given the call for prayer amidst storms

Sounded the conch on dark nights

Hung a crucifix outside my home

Made sure she was banished from every door