ROUNDHU

Tumhari aankhoun mein

Nami aatey hi

Srinagar mein

Baarish hojati hai

Mausam koi bhi ho

Meri Nazm bheeg jati hai

*************

تمہاری آنکھوں میں

نمی آتے ہی

سرینگر میں

بارش ہو جاتی ہے

موسم کوئی بھی ہو

میری نظم بھیگ جاتی ہے 

Caution: Men At Work (Srinagar Highway)

Upon the chickenpoxed highway

“The dust . . . floats high”

Vehicles trudge

Crawl like a centipede

A dog has been hit

Black crows pick delicately

The beige colored intestines

The putrid, stinking smell

Fills the air

On both sides of the highway

Hundreds of knocked, crushed

Axed, bulldozed trees lie

The grey colored

Muddy intestines all visible

Their dead carcasses

Don’t stink

Don’t rot

No nose picks them

They just lie there

Like used oil tanks

After war,

Or after they tar the road.

Army personnel

Places his leg

On an unearthed

Chinar stump

Starts his rifle

And ends my Zeppelin Kashmir –

“Let me take you there”