We All Are Clouds Poem by Akhtar Jawad

You arose from a sea,
I arose from a different sea.
We both had love for the blue skies.
You have a white skin
I have brown
and he has black.
Our religions are different
our culture is different.
Our paths of journey may be different
but we all have a common destination.
We all are pilgrims of love,
We start as love and we end as love.
We are clouds,
we are rivers,
we have no alternate but to merge our identity
in a great and infinite ocean.

Here we arise as vagabond clouds!
We saw the deserts begging tears from us,
we felt their thirst we saw their dry skin
we saw their itching and scratching
we noticed their helplessness
to find a green oasis in the burning sand
though our eyes were full of tears
but we had no time for them,
we are travelers of the skies!

We were invited by the dense forests
smiling and assuring quiet lonely places
to love silently in a beautiful hide.
The forests hiding their beasts
shown us a beautiful couple of vegetarians,
coupling after struggling whole day for some food.
A few of them were hunted by wolfs and lions.
With a heavy heart we saw their skins and the bones,
though our eyes were full of tears
but we had no time for them,
we are travelers of the skies!

We saw the plains and their fertility
enjoyed the dance of the crops
we listened to the tune of the flutes
we saw their fairs and festivals
after harvesting wheat and cotton.
We saw a beautiful bride in a palanquin
following a handsome groom on the back of a horse
we listened to the tunes of shehnai
we intended to go down as uninvited guests
but we were too late the mountains were still too far.
We just smiled on the beautiful life of a plain
though our hearts had more smiles
but we had no time for them,
we are travelers of the skies!

And when the mountains started appearing
making our faces bright and shining
by now we had been traveling side by side
the dispute of destination changed our moods
there were so many high tops of the same mountain
which one is the right one and where we should go?
Lightning and thunders for each other
we collided and melted on the various cliffs.
The great mountain punished us to crawl on the ground
but the mountain is great
and even its punishments have rewards in its soul.
How beautiful we are to be changed in a dancing virgin
and crawling on the feeding breasts of mother earth!
Now our heart is full of smiles
we have time for all those we ignored
we are now travelers of a great ocean.

Come on our banks bare footed.
O you! The newly married couple!
Wait a little more we shall pass by the desert
we have ecstatic wine to excite them for love.
Dear forest we shall enter in you and we shall increase your density
you will have new and more dense hiding places for love.
And lo! The destination appears,
but before we enter the ocean
we shall hug each other and do all
that is done in love.
We shall enter the ocean as a single river!

(With thanks to Google - A Shehnai is a South Asian music instrument which is normally played at marriages and other ceremonies, rites and rituals. The word itself is of Muslim/Turkish origin, combining 'Sheh' (or 'Shah')'Royal' and '-Nai' or 'Ney', a type of Flute.)