Curfewed Cage Poem by Nida Nawaz

(Seven months long curfew in Kashmir)

We're all but
Turned into stone
Having lost our breath
Along the way
With tongues tied
And our throats choked
With eerie lumps
All we could do is read...
Read in each other's eyes
Elaborate and strong
Expressions of protest
Deep within, as an intense
Sense of exasperation
Takes over
Our well-patterned homes
Are loudly pervaded
By an imprisoning silence
And the walls around
Display harsh unnerving grins
The little air that trickles in
Seems loaded
With an ulterior purpose
Of surveillance
So all we could afford
To let out
Are sighs, small and frail
Struggling to peer out
But far away
Far away from this
Predicament of ours
In the long-winding corridors
Of power
And media houses
Of scant virtue
Queer distortions
Of our stand and status
Are being played out
Entrapment takes the better of us
As we venture to catch a glimpse
Of the old high street
Olive-greens are to be seen
All across the road
And pavements too
At the farther end
A row of armoured vehicles
Stand in direct confrontation
Against a wronged people
Our eyes travel gingerly up in the sky
To discover passionate flights
Of proud winged creatures
Spanning across the horizon
Our eyes then lower
So low, that a vision
Blurred by the mist of despair
And desperation
Begins to lament
The loss of our being.
(English translation by Ashfaq Lone)