On A Solitary Isle Poem by Harun Al Nasif

Suddenly, I found myself awake
On the silent shore of an unknown,
nameless isle.
I've been forsaken here, stranded alone,
Without a word, without a reason,
The air is thick with the toll of distant thunder.

Your reckoning has begun-
Resounds the booming voice of the vast void.
I ask, 'What is my crime? '
The restless waves freeze in an instant,
and letters emerge blazing upon the waves—
Unfamiliar, indecipherable,
Like the arcane script of the Indus Valley.

The trees stand mute and silent witnesses,
An ominous stillness clings to their shadows.

I stand at the dock of my own trial—
Both judge and accused in isle of solitude.
There is no one here,
Yet unseen eyes unleash volleys of cruel arrows from every corner.

Night engulfs me with its fanged darkness,
Even the stars grill me:
'Do you know who you truly are? '
I do not answer.
My name—forgotten, abandoned long ago.

I search for escape—
'To flee is to live.'
But every edge of the isle is sealed,
Unbreachable, impenetrable barriers.
Walls of sand, raised from the shore,
Yet unyielding and iron-cold to the touch.

I look back—
The shore dissolves,
Swept away by winds prowling like sharks.
Even the sea has forsaken me,
Casting me away with careless disdain,
Striking blows disguised as gentle tides.

This irrevocable trial of the solitary isle,
Suspends me between the future and the past,
As time's veiled loops etch opposing signs—
What is my crime? Who is the judge?
I dare not ask, nor do I have the sense to.
For I know,
The answer dwells in the isle's abyss,
Or perhaps within the uncharted depths of my own oblivion.