Noshi Gilani (14 March 1964 / Bahawalpur, Punjab / Pakistan)

Can someone bring me my entire being?
My arms, my eyes, my face?

I am a river flowing into the wrong sea
If only someone could restore me to the desert

Life goes on but I want no more from it
Than my childhood, my firefly, my doll

My vision does not admit this new season
Take me back to my old dream

Of finding one face among the many in my city
Whose eyes can read deep into me

My life has been a boat in a whirlpool for so long
O god, please let it sink or drift back to the desert.

[Translated by Nukhbah Langah and Lavinia Greenlaw]