Parade Poem by Ahmad Shiddiqi

feel inside
so lonely
in crowd

feel inside
so happy
in graveyard

feel inside
so sad
in a party

feel inside
so glad
in a funeral

feel inside
so friendly
in a war

feel inside
so venomously
in a celebration

upside
down
turn around
retreat, give up

black and blue
come undone
regret, despair

break up
fall apart
confuse, hesitate

mess up
blow up
guilty, leave

dig down
dig deep
under ground

how long honestly
we can stand saying
not what we feel?

how long truly
we can insist doing
not what we sense?

how long surely
we can continue writing
not what we love?

how long consciously
we can still do advising
not what we know?

each of us
isn’t an actor?
don’t we act perfectly?

each of us
isn’t a salesman?
don’t we sell cleverly?

each of us
isn’t a saint?
don’t we preach divinely?

each of us
isn’t an expert?
don’t we speech vigorously?

each of us
isn’t a clown?
don’t we entertain amazingly?

each of us
isn’t a teaser
don’t we persuade brilliantly?

oh carnival
oh camouflage
in you, have we been
staying all our life?

oh soap opera
oh drama stage
in you, have we been
living all our time?

oh trade conference
oh academic seminar
in you, have we been
loving all our wish?

oh member summit
oh political meeting
in you, have we been
spending all our day?

oh cat walk
oh movie screen
in you, have we been
celebrating all our love?

oh annual festival
oh bizarre ceremony
in you, have we been
investing all our chance?

oh national talk show
oh glamorous exhibition
in you, have we been
dedicating all our activity?

do we really live
in a real life
or just in a parade?

(dedicated to a great poet at poemhunter, James Nall)