Word That Went Amiss Poem by Sadiqullah Khan

There was a small word in the lines of indices
like knitting a needle or weaving knots of silk
I put it upside down and the downside up
I traversed the chest of the Gobi desert
I visited the Streams of Tigers and the Springs
of Three Laughs and saw dreams
I then woke up lance in hand towards a direction
the river was leading me to the very source
I then heard a voice
you have seen the beauty with your eyes
as you behold and seeing the dusty pages
being wiped by someone a hundred years afterward
and this small word in thousands of words
done up like vases and trees and magnolia
some dancing girls too
and some breaking down the sand like tears
in this visibility
I would leave that one word unattended
and unlike many other words chiseled
to perfection
I would not untie it
I would then narrate to the causes
I would then not have written this here
I would then not have spoken of my love
but for that small word that went amiss

Islamabad
Sept 7,2010