Embers! ! ! Poem by Shahzia Batool
Embers! ! !
Whatever cool,
calm and serene was there in life,
it was there only when they were alive
my parents!
Life was life
worthy and worth-living
and now when they are no more
it has become a compulsion
and an obligation
'how time flies when one has fun'
and how it stops,
gets static to the limits of suffocation
when the essence of life is just taken out of it.
When they were there with me
with all there being shedding all affections
life was easy;
now when they are no more,
death has become easy.
Death is no parting,
as is assumed,
for they say
meeting with the dead and gone
is much much possible,
the bare fact is that
though i cant see them
but it's gratifying enough
that at least they can see me;
they are not going to come,
but i'm expected to go and meet them
sooner or later
What is Death?
an antonym of life? ,
a law of nature? ,
a parting-agent marking a line of separation
between the living and the dead? ,
or a divine order?
whatever it is, it's not strong enough
even to create a few seconds worth separation of us
from our dear ones.
They are more close to us,
we are more close to them.
'our dead are never dead to us
untill we have forgotten them.'
Life without them is like a tedious journey
barefoot under the rotten sun
O! for the faces
that are gone and hidden
within the entrails of the sodden ground!
O! for the precious lives
that are vanished
and slipped out of our hands
like grains of sand
the death-angel WAS there
in our own house
and no suspicion, no fear
since the grip on life was that strong but
at that very moment,
the string that held us together broke down
Nothing is left now
but grief, grief and a long-lasting emptiness
which will never come to an end...
Regrets...
for the calls not responded,
regrets...
for the moments not spent with those
whose eyes just looked forward for the company...
'Death! be not proud! '
if you were really a mighty being,
you would take the memories with you too,
but here you are not strong
rather very weak;
now did you get to know your worth?
Death, you cant kill.
you can hide aface but
not the memories of that face
that i cherish
and will keep on cherishing
forever;
my still hot
unextinguished embers of love
will never be cooled down,
though i'm alive
but the life has lost its colours!
A great way to reignite that love at which you begin you also end in embers embraced.
Your soul release all what hidden and open from your chest to scatter around your life...showing all you have inside...it is good to tell this way, heartfelt...and it is lovely and intense at same time! _Soul
Shahzia, what better tribute can we give to our parents whose whole life has been an enduring legacy! Leaving fond memories in us, they have left! They are now with God and at peace! So why grieve over their death? At a time when aged parents are regarded as a burden, this is a proclamation to the world that there are children who recount the blessings of being with their parents and that the embers of love sparked by those revered lives still linger on in their lives!
A very powerful poem. Death makes us realise that we all are mortals indeed. Yet life after death of one's nears and dears leave a huge void never to be filled again. Yet the death can not conquer ones mind. It can not snatch away the memories of departed. I like the lines''Death! be not proud! ' if you were really a mighty being, you would take the memories with you too'.... well said. Beautiful poem.
life is difficult after the death of a love one. they continue on in our minds.
death can only take the physical, but can never touch love, thoughts and memories.
The rather lengthy and drawn out rendering is at once an emotive work and a jarring reminder of the vagaries of life and death. The inevitability of the grim reapers call…. Can we, can any one, ever grow out of the trauma of the loss of loved ones. Perceptions here take on a religious and accepted route of expression, the poet has a found a comfortable and easy way out to articulate the much needed and pent up sentiments….a catharsis of sorts. Free verse is well! Free and devoid of any restrictions in as much as we encounter in structured classical and traditional forms. I feel the meandering and off handed approach here, has added to the emotive strength of the poem and has supplemented rather then subtracted from its otherworldly pain. It is written almost in a crazed daze, a delusional incubus, only the one suffering can achieve that state of thrashing trance of anguish Content wise and contextually moving lines. and a * for Jasmeen for picking out the embellishment.
I lost both of my parents when I was young, so I have spent most of my life without them. I understand fully the feelings you express here Shahzia. Very well written.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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12/12/2025 5:49:29 PM # 1.0.0
You are basking in memories of your dear parents, yes dear friend their souls are never parted from us. Use of a line from the great master like Donne has rendered further depth to your poem. You rather accept the reality of death positively. It shows your composure and depth.