Wednesday, August 31, 2005
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Mein Bhi Pakistan Hoon Tu Bhi Pakistan Hai
There are two Pakistans in the world. One is the Pakistan that you are trying to make. The other is the Pakistan that I wish to hold on to.
The Pakistan you are trying to make is the Pakistan which exists to appease the powers that be. The Pakistan I hold on to is the one which hopes to become one of them. You choose to survive. I dream to co-exist. You speak their language, walk their walk, live their culture, dream their dreams. I speak my speak, walk my walk, live my way, dream my dreams.
You have no memory, no history, no rememberance. You seek a way forward but you don't know where you are. You think you will take the country to the future or to Heaven, depending on who you are. You think if you please your friends or if you please your God things will happen automatically. You ape the ways you think are right, you have no courage to adapt. You use the means you're told to use, you have no mind of your own. You can send your army to fight and die for a cause you don't understand. You can blow yourself up in a place you yourself consider sacred for a cause you don't even know. You learn nothing from the past, your own and that of others'. You oppress beyond the limits of cruelty. You liberate beyond the limits of reason. You live lives you cannot adjust to. You cut yourselves off from yourselves. You delude yourselves and those like you that all of this is for a cause.
How far do you think will go? How long do you think you will last? Do you think I will be in shackles all my life? That I will never be free? That my eyes have lost the sense of sight, that my mind has lost its vision? You fly for now on wings of wax but you too will fall, like Icarus, from the skies to your death. My wings are those of the child of the hawk. Weak for now, but I will fly someday. Your chains and ropes will not hold me down. I will fly for history is on my side. The sky is my domain. Your place is in the shadows of your lords. Follow their spoor but remember that the lion does not let the hyena get too close, that the vulture follows death and the eagle follows life.
My people toil in the fields today, your people bind them in chains tonight. My people build the roads today, they build your homes, your cities, your palaces. They exist and you rule. They struggle and you dominate. They obey and you direct. They follow and you lead. But that is today. The beauty of every today is that there is always a tomorrow. But every sun that rises is different from the one before. Watch and wait. My wings grow strong.
The Pakistan you are trying to make is the Pakistan which exists to appease the powers that be. The Pakistan I hold on to is the one which hopes to become one of them. You choose to survive. I dream to co-exist. You speak their language, walk their walk, live their culture, dream their dreams. I speak my speak, walk my walk, live my way, dream my dreams.
You have no memory, no history, no rememberance. You seek a way forward but you don't know where you are. You think you will take the country to the future or to Heaven, depending on who you are. You think if you please your friends or if you please your God things will happen automatically. You ape the ways you think are right, you have no courage to adapt. You use the means you're told to use, you have no mind of your own. You can send your army to fight and die for a cause you don't understand. You can blow yourself up in a place you yourself consider sacred for a cause you don't even know. You learn nothing from the past, your own and that of others'. You oppress beyond the limits of cruelty. You liberate beyond the limits of reason. You live lives you cannot adjust to. You cut yourselves off from yourselves. You delude yourselves and those like you that all of this is for a cause.
How far do you think will go? How long do you think you will last? Do you think I will be in shackles all my life? That I will never be free? That my eyes have lost the sense of sight, that my mind has lost its vision? You fly for now on wings of wax but you too will fall, like Icarus, from the skies to your death. My wings are those of the child of the hawk. Weak for now, but I will fly someday. Your chains and ropes will not hold me down. I will fly for history is on my side. The sky is my domain. Your place is in the shadows of your lords. Follow their spoor but remember that the lion does not let the hyena get too close, that the vulture follows death and the eagle follows life.
My people toil in the fields today, your people bind them in chains tonight. My people build the roads today, they build your homes, your cities, your palaces. They exist and you rule. They struggle and you dominate. They obey and you direct. They follow and you lead. But that is today. The beauty of every today is that there is always a tomorrow. But every sun that rises is different from the one before. Watch and wait. My wings grow strong.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Monday, August 29, 2005
Birthday Gift
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Sunday, August 28, 2005
Why Sarojini Naidu was the Nightingale of India
PALANQUIN BEARERS
Lightly, O lightly we bear her along,
She sways like a flower in the wind of our song;
She skims like a bird on the foam of a stream,
She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream.
Gaily, O gaily we glide and we sing,
We bear her along like a pearl on a string.
Softly, O softly we bear her along,
She hangs like a star in the dew of our song;
She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide,
She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride.
Lightly, O lightly we glide and we sing,
We bear her along like a pearl on a string.
Absolute genius. Its melody in words. Emotion in text.
Lightly, O lightly we bear her along,
She sways like a flower in the wind of our song;
She skims like a bird on the foam of a stream,
She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream.
Gaily, O gaily we glide and we sing,
We bear her along like a pearl on a string.
Softly, O softly we bear her along,
She hangs like a star in the dew of our song;
She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide,
She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride.
Lightly, O lightly we glide and we sing,
We bear her along like a pearl on a string.
Absolute genius. Its melody in words. Emotion in text.
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Hurray for Simon Jones
the hedonist's pain
Here's a some nonsense of my own for a change:
the hedonist’s pain
a glance
a pause
a tension no-one else can sense
a grimace only pain can cause
and then a hopeless self-defence
like fields of silk forgotten hair
dancing in the summer breeze
-the breeze that slows
caressing
feeling
kissing
touching! it
gently with the breeze it flies
across the face and back in place
and then the quagmires of her eyes
like burning coals on crystal ice
eyes made with painstaking care
nature’s selfish love affair
daring others to defy
their perfection
forgotten face
forgotten grace
forgotten love
forgotten hate
re-called re-felt re-sensed re-hurt
in an instant longer than many eternities
the gap from then to now was false
there was no gap no broken link
the wall of rock was made of clay
facades to drive the world away
and now the tough exterior breaks
the barrier’s gone
just crumbled walls
like jericho revisited
but all is not the same this time
what was then cannot be now
why would heaven fall again
descend to earth
descend to hell!
a second time
so the hedonist is left
of love and faith both bereft
no love no hate
just his damned fate
and his damned pain
again
and again
the hedonist’s pain
a glance
a pause
a tension no-one else can sense
a grimace only pain can cause
and then a hopeless self-defence
like fields of silk forgotten hair
dancing in the summer breeze
-the breeze that slows
caressing
feeling
kissing
touching! it
gently with the breeze it flies
across the face and back in place
and then the quagmires of her eyes
like burning coals on crystal ice
eyes made with painstaking care
nature’s selfish love affair
daring others to defy
their perfection
forgotten face
forgotten grace
forgotten love
forgotten hate
re-called re-felt re-sensed re-hurt
in an instant longer than many eternities
the gap from then to now was false
there was no gap no broken link
the wall of rock was made of clay
facades to drive the world away
and now the tough exterior breaks
the barrier’s gone
just crumbled walls
like jericho revisited
but all is not the same this time
what was then cannot be now
why would heaven fall again
descend to earth
descend to hell!
a second time
so the hedonist is left
of love and faith both bereft
no love no hate
just his damned fate
and his damned pain
again
and again
About me
- I'm Xill-e-Ilahi
- From Karachi, Pakistan
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