THE BRIDGE

Blessed Nights of Solitude! by Asfa Iman - Pakistan

In nights, all alone

Tears stream down my face, for sins I've known

When I chose this Duniya¹ over Akhirah²

But now I seek forgiveness from Almighty Allah

 

Harsh words I've spoken, people I've hurt

Leave my soul feeling heavy, burdened with dirt

For in these nights of Ramadan⁴, I feel the weight

Of all my mistakes, and the harm, I've created

 

But deep down I have faith that I can mend

With God's mercy, and love that will never end

For the good deeds and kindness, I've done

Can outweigh the wrongs, and bring back the lost sun...

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Abandoned! by Asfa Iman - Pakistan

In the corner sat a tiny cat

Abandoned and alone, no mother at

My heart ached, at her pitiful sight

And I took her in, with delight

 

I gave her all the love I had

To make up for her mother's bad

But as she grew, I realized so

Her eyes, mirrored a similar glow...

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The Fatal Hour by Rukha Khalid - Pakistan

Muse to eyes in witnessing things

Nature girdling me like two wings

 

Serene tranquility in River that flows

 Can turn to calamity upon overflow

 

The Universe can crush in pulse

With Celestial Audacity from up-above!

 

For same that chalked out patterns

 

O' The World full of Captains!...

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She! by Rafia Asghar Ali - Pakistan

A wrinkled dusky visage

With slender eyes losing its sight

Manifest her fight with the vicious world

 

A hump on her fragile back

Embodies the burden of hardships

And trials she fought years back...

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Racism by Ayna Nadeem - Pakistan

Tracing back

To the roots of our religion

In the era

When peace came

Under the banner of our beloved Prophet (PBUH)

Whose kindness was for all mankind

Irrespective;

Non-discriminative,

An embodiment of Justice!

The poor and the rich

Standing side by side

There was hope,

And a purpose...

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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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