**on Mother’s Day Poem by Sadiqullah Khan

On mother’s day I saw
From the cold streams
From the wooden houses
Buddha sitting meditating
Aloft of the pine trees
Falls in the midst of the city
The aroma of woods
Burning charcoals
Marble palace and gardens
Of Peer Baba and stories of love
Adam khan and Durkhannai
The little girl when her dolls
She said of childhood thrown
To the river to become eternal

On mother’s day I saw
Pounded with guns and tanks
A million would flee
To what is called safe
To disease and disruption
Prey to the wolves
The faces still aglow
Refuge in own country
Refuge from beauty
Such beauty of nature
As no one has seen on earth
Shall not the *Grand River
Weep for its worshippers
God was envious in probabilities
Such carnage has befallen my land
How many more tears and blood

*Grand River: (River Swat)
(Dedicated to the Mothers of Swat)
12/5/2009