THE BRIDGE

Preternatural Times by Sufia Humayun - Pakistan

I still miss the times when

Qaria was just Qaria

Not seamstress- stitching clothes of her students

Not beautician- plucking eyebrows of her students' mothers'

Not moper/dish washer- moping/washing. . .

 

The times when students did mop and dish-wash

To pay for her services- Teaching recitation

With Qirat

Without Qirat...

 

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Socrates on Mars Receiving Terrestrials by Sobia Kiran - Canada

O men!

I have been waiting for you

You took so long to reach here

I have been looking over you

With my fellow philosophers

Whom you quote so fervently

With least understanding

You profess our teachings

That you follow so reluctantly

You use our words to inspire others

Without following our advice in the world matters

What brought you here?...

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Light And Shadow by Maria Munir - Pakistan

The dark memory of our past

Was it the ever-last?

Daunting us

Haunting us

Living a lifetime of wrongs

Enduring the shadow

Of our past mistakes...

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That Pretty Smile by Bisma Tazeem - Pakistan

The hands were busy in sewing the shirt

The eyes were fixed on the needle

The baby was crying in her lap

Trying to eat out the dirt

 

The hands were fast and steady

So focused and so smooth

Smile on her face and she was ready

To make a shirt for her baby...

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Not so Fantastical Fantastic Beings by Muhammad Khurram - Pakistan

Perceive me not, I say

See my beauty in every pebble in your way

Hear me not, I say

Listen to the bulbuls singing our praise

Affirm me not, I say

Speak of grace and joyous days

 

For love is riddled with contradictions 

Oxymoronic prepositions

Humble schemes and grand wishes

Impossible realizations: us, together

A thought with so much charge, reaching capacity overload

A short circuit, a flare up, a supernova burst

Swinging us so far out of our orbits that we

crash into one another...

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Unrequited love by Qudsia Rehman - Pakistan

Ached so ached my heart is!

Just have a glimpse inside of it

It’s overfilled

With self-knitted stories of you and me

With the feelings enclosed and enveloped

Just not ready to be articulated

 

and revealed...

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Man by Qudsia Rehman - Pakistan

An object with flesh and bones

Inside all systems regulate and run

By listening to the brain,

How simple and basic it is...

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Eternal Voyage by Bushra Yasin - Pakistan

Come with me,

I’ll take you to a different world,

A world that lies within me,

A world that I created,

And a world that I rule.

You’ll meet those who live inside me,

Few rebels,

Few forgotten souls,

A dreamer that flies without wings,

And a leader that leads, through imagination...

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The Moon Game by Hajra Khan - Pakistan

It's okay to feel it all.

It's okay to feel half,

Or nothing, nothing at all.

Shhh... Can you hear her silent plea?

How she gains when she falls,

How she knows her own path.

You'll never know if she cries, mourns or rejoices,

For she hides herself in daylight. 

Away from the people, away from pain,

I have told you once and I'll tell you again...

 

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An Early Awakening ! by Hafsa tariq - Pakistan

How I am is how I will be

I am tired of pretending

How good I am

Do they consider me?

Or don't they?

I don't know...

I am a phantom of love

Who promises to make moments

Not memories...

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