The Shoe Cobbler Poem by Sadiqullah Khan

He cobbles shoes
He and his son
Gazing in the dark
In one constant direction
And one cold night
The young man with moustache
And a firm long chin
Lock of black hair
Giving him the dare devil look
Cap touching eye brow
The gaze in the distance
The distance measured in years
And years of that glowing fire
Of some dead wood
His hopes have evaporated
In those flames
And his son
With red cheeks
A handsome child
Learning his fathers ways
In a constant effort
But with innocence
Catching his fathers thoughts
His jaw like his fathers
And his cheeks like his sisters
His mother must have that eloquence
In her eyes
He has inherited
The valor of the father
His hopes learning too
To evaporate in that fire
In those flames
And smoke
Into some unknown distance
Some where in the heaven
In the form of prayers
And prayers without rituals
And unanswered
In that dark cold night
The wetness in the ground
And the earth white with snow
That man with a proud face
And the innocent child
Both were
Cobbling shoes
That cold night
The pride and the future
Had nothing to eat