Thanksgiving

these fleeting moments in life
when urges
tell, nay dictate, we bow
to our copy-righted gods

zindagi kay yeh guzartay lamhay
rooh ki gehraiyON say oothti khaahishaiN
kehtee haiN
hukum daitee haiN sajda karo
apnay munn maiN basay khudaouN ko

in that foggy mist
(was it a cavern or tavern?)
came the revelation
---our lives are but a passage
between two smiles

come, walk with me
through the misty bazaar
fragmented with contaminates
of noise, air(s)
of thought, thinking
pollutants
induced, inherited
mental, physical
you must walk with me

aao m’ray saath
bazaar-e-zindagi ho aa’aiN
ghubar kay aqsaam haiN jahaN dast-yaab
ghubaar
--raah ka, shOr ka, sOch ka
--wirasat ka, takhleeq ka
chalo meray saath chalo

two smiles

first smile plays
on the newborn’s lips
no discernment there

matters not if desert winds
or slum’s arrested smell
enveloped the infant’s mat

matters not if engineered air
surrounded the mattress,
in a whorehouse
with uniformed attendants
whirling as if ordained

second smile
emanates from a body
a still body
that has finally resolved
all arguments with the temporal

between these two smiles
are submerged a thousand dreams, desires
yours and mine
and infrequently when they come true
another smile breaks out
unique, furtive, fleeing

teri meri in mooskurahatON kay baiN
haiN madfun najanay kitnay khaab, khaahishaiN
maauj-e-hawadis gar bad’l dai jo naseeb oonka
phir raqsaaN hoti hai ek munfarid mooskurahat

and those fleeting moments
chance encounters really
dictate how we bow
to our copy-righted gods