Sonnet 7 Poem by Ahmad Shiddiqi

on last summer they had gone to the cinema
hot lemonade with a shot of vodka
painted the visitors like lugubrious kings
thrusts on chest, there are many scars

you took on taffeta blouse with jaded embroidery
in a dream, Malcolm X asked for an emergency
while masquerade boats were still floating to La Paz
did that yellow boar permit me that evening to pass?

a fisherman visited cemetery with a bouquet of arum lilies
a definitive end in less sweet circumstances
a voice that seemed like a sigh of sorrow
refused to reveal the secret for tomorrow
at 09.00 o'clock with the smoke from the coconut oil lamps
spent the rest of the day eating spicy vegetables