Town Within Town Lii Poem by Sadiqullah Khan

Bath in the fresh fountains in open
Live in flower beds, place the flesh on your bones
On the red polythene chairs, two adjacent
Shanty squalor, it begs mercy of us humans -
Revolt of the destitute, left to stew in their own sweat.
Only rain washes the bodies of women and children,
Your ‘chair' like the versed holiness in brass, shall never
Settle on all four, neither fall. It has no leg-rest.
Had I been you, I would have allowed dismantling
The cursed walls of these symbols of strength
And removed the face, on which a dog's skin hangs.
All the wolves howl together in unison
On the poor people's gathering naked in storms
A young boy let me through,
Do you ever visit them? They are the soul of nation,
The true nation you are, the multitude
Malnourished, their dreams are big words in small mouths
A reflection that is, and will be, for times
To come, who grace us with their sobbing chants and daily prayers.

-On Passing through the sit-ins of Pakistan Awami Tehreek in front of the Parliament on September 24,2014.

Sadiqullah Khan
Islamabad
September 24,2014.