The Boy Who Laughed Too Loud Poem by Kamran ismail

By Kamran

I was the boy who laughed too loud,
Who chased the winds, who teased the crowd;
With dusty feet and careless grin,
No heavy storm had lived within.

The village skies were bright and wide,
With golden evenings by my side;
The mosque would call, the birds would fly,
While children raced the fading sky.

We played until the stars appeared,
With broken bats we proudly cheered;
One bottle cold in summer heat
Could make the poorest moment sweet,

They called me "pagal" every day,
The strange young boy who joked away;
I thought all hearts were pure and true,
As only childish dreamers do.

But time, like silent winter rain,
Can slowly darken joy with pain;
The boy who once spoke without fear
Became too lost to feel quite clear.

Then came the city, cold and fast,
Where smiling moments could not last;
The roads were loud, the hearts were slow,
And no one cared for souls below.

I smiled at school, I laughed with friends,
Pretending sadness always ends;
Yet every night my restless mind
Would leave the noisy world behind.

I questioned life, I questioned fate,
Why lonely hearts must always wait;
Why gentle souls are left unseen,
While cruel ones rise with polished sheen.

At times I wished for wealth and fame,
At times to vanish without name;
And many nights beneath the skies
I searched for God with sleepless eyes.

Yet somewhere in my silent chest,
The child still longs for simple rest;
For village winds and dusty air,
For days untouched by deep despair.

Perhaps we never truly part
From places living in the heart;
For though the world around me changed,
That little boy still walks unchanged.