Mohammad Younus Koul

I Am A Kashmiri, I Too Am A Human Being

I am a Kashmiri, I, too, am a human being,
Day and nightI hear the shrieks of mothers,
Moaning and mourning over their slain children,
Shouldering the coffins of nears and dears,
Wailing and singing elegies as did Zainab,
When, going alone, through the battlefield of Karballa,
I hear the chinars cry when the sad winds blow,
Touching their paled leaves and boughs,
All things in the geography of my valley wail and weep,
Wherever I go, I hear the noise of soldiers,
Firing and beating to pulp young and old,
Razing to ground with mortar guns the temples ...