Literary Establishments Poem by Sadiqullah Khan

Literary Establishments



They hold the castle
Stronger than the King’s men
Some Humpty Dumptys
When fall, escape and run
From their eggs.

The great poet would watch
The court slaves would carry
The eulogist, to sing praise,
To the fallen Sovereign.

The worth is a robe
On the alter of conscience,
Under the rug
A heap of lies.
Once to the Chair
They sold –a daily
Different from what was
And that for the masses.

Feeble morals, in conformity
Ignorant, sans true spirit,
Shining shields, carved woods
Signed papers, adore the walls.

To let go, and speak human candor
The unknown poet, a philosopher;
Didst not few, but have forgone
To speak the truth than harbor falsehood.

Sadiqullah Khan
Peshawar
September 22,2013.

POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
There are three references in this poem. In the second stanza Ghalib –a nineteenth century poet, who would watch the court poet carried by slaves to a virtually fallen sovereign. In the third stanza the reference is to president Ayub Khan, to whom a different copy of newspaper would be presented praising his achievements. There would be two copies of the same newspaper, one for the masses, and the other for the president. The last stanza refers to Jean Paul Sartre who had declined the Noble Prize in Literature.
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