Your Enemy Just Like Dark Night Poem by Emdad Shah Emdad

by Emdad Shah

Thy foes are like the midnight, dark and deep
A loveless fiend from hidden gulfs upborne
While those who swear to thee allegiance keep
Are like thy love, to whom thy heart is sworn
Begotten of the foes that round thee creep
A bastard offspring born of bitter scorn.

Unfitness ever is the foe of might
And power and merit wander far apart
A youth is judged by deeds and virtues bright
While beauty is the crown of woman's heart
Yet deem not every gentle maid upright
For in their midst deceit can play its part.

As night and day maintain eternal strife
As shadows flee before the golden gleam
So dark-browed maids and fair youths wage their life In endless war, beneath the sun's broad beam
O dark-robed sister, free from error's knife
Stand firm in justice, by the sacred stream.

Save by the weight of greatness, this shall cease
God smiles on goddesses, and guides His own
The white and black divide the world in peace
Where clever knaves make hollow worlds their throne
Though hearts are mismatched, seek not blind release
Nor fly like mourning gulls where winds are blown.

Thou, dark-eyed sister, spurn'st the dusky boy
And break'st the rule of justice and of grace
The greatest racist, seeking thine own toy
Thou walk'st the streets with fury in thy face
As dogs abhor the soil of their employ
How canst thou seek to choke a kindred race?

Thy skin is dark, the Prophet's garment white
He chose no dusky maiden for his bride
Shall black-skinned daughters cast a blameful blight
Upon the faith, and thrust the truth aside?
The law of heaven is equal, pure, and bright
Where justice and integrity abide.

All praise to honest maids of dusky hue And scorn to those who walk the crooked way
O sister, shun the treacherous and untrue
Nor seek dark ends to lead thy steps astray
Be not a burden to the chosen few
A dusky youth shall crown thy humble day.

To be his bosom's queen is all thy gain
Yet thou dost wage a war against thy peer
A beggar-maid who counts her worth in vain
Though heaven counsels wisdom, calm and clear
A dusky youth outweighs thy proud disdain
And is than empty pride a thing more dear.

Our Prophet took no dark-skinned maid to wife
Nor needst thou wed the darkness of the night
God feeds the raven, shieldeth every life
Why trade in hatred for a brief delight?
True friendship springs from wisdom, toil, and strife
From sacred sacrifice and visions bright.

The worthless ever envy those who shine
And hide their failing eyes in proud deceit
They smell no foulness in their own design
Nor mark the sewer where their currents meet
Ye haughty maids, who deem yourselves divine
Beside the toilers panting in the street!

What hapless youths are we, who bear the load!
Go ask a dark-skinned boy what words are said
By dusky maids along life's rugged road When cruel jests upon his heart are laid
Speak truth: ye play a false and fickle mode
And spurn the honest vows that love has made.

Ye hold the hearts of men within your thrall
Yet play the cheat, ambitious and austere
Then weave dark legends when the shadows fal
And build up phantom tales of grief and fear.