Syed Ahmed Shah Poems

Fireball...

The misplaced metaphor
Streaked passed
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Do not expect of me, my beloved, the same old love
Life once appeared beautiful because, I thought, you were there
The sweet longing for you made me forget other worldly pains
The spring seemed eternal because of your splendid beauty
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You say it was him
He says it was you
If you do not restrain your fingers
There will be no him
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Poetry, like love
Comes in volent bursts
It is all about spilling blood
Sometimes hers
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Flesh of the menial hand is up in the market for sale
Streets dyed crimson with blood from the poor veins
The fire hidden so long, bursts aflame with sudden rage
This heart listens no more to the sober call for restraint…
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You broke shop windows with sledgehammers
Your arms could hardly lift; and you thought,
Broken crystals would make large sounds and
A solitary fire would look like a thousand and they
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Oh, for a dropp of rain...

Buckets return empty from the depths of despair,
On our bodies, the desert lays its claim;
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The Waves in the Human Heart by Hiren Bhattacharyya (Translated from Assamese)

I wish to narrate these feelings very intimately. As intimately as the tears cascading over my cheeks. Alien words from various locations creep all over the darkness of the heart bejewelled with stars; I collect the pen and the paper in the hope of picking up an expression or two; so universal is the human heart, so many waves within. I stood there humbled looking at the rich paddy field.
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A bird with broken wings
Couldn't take to the sky
Someone's greed robbed it of its
Capacity to fly
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