@ I Found It So Poem by Sadiqullah Khan

I found it so, on the edge of time
From the fluttering wing of an unknown
Bird. After a day’s work, after a long sleep.
It fell from a cloud, created on a magician’s stick
When doves brought it in, in yellow napkin.
From dust, from the leafy tree, a leaf,
Where I saw Indus was flowing, on a revolving
Earth, of snow, mud and water. From Google.
I saw tributaries and found my home very near
The Eiffel tower, in Asia. Or the Forbidden City in China.
It was beneath the mud, where children play
Football bare feet and where famine rules worse
Than a dictator; begging a militia for a lease
Of life: dear, thirsty and hungry, dying
On the desert sands and their carcasses hanging on
To cactuses. It let me grow, look upon
Ladyfingers being cooked in kitchens, fried in oil
And men harboring demonic weapons
On streets writing with blood and piercing with
Bullets. An African queen had matriarchal airs,
An Asian girl had a man’s name, hiding behind
As if, wearing moustache and a beard is a protection.
We will win by culture, intellect and recall
A distant heritage and plunge into the future.
We still were measuring the breath and length
Of time. We were walking after having taken
Frothy mugs of coffee. We were thinking
That one day the seven fixed stars would move around
Quacking like ducklings and the moon drowned in a sea.

-To Jackie Allen –On my finding a post card ‘Long Silence’ having a haunting view of Victoria Street, Dundee, South Africa, on Google.