Prisoner of Landi Kotal*

hey, i didn`t post that. i am not a mid-level military officer and certainly not disgruntled.

[You are a retired motivated junior military officer - I am a retired disgruntled mid-level military officer.]

In my opinion, Nazar`s above closing thought can also be misread for a belittling remark. Well, then I may be under the influence of something strange in the air.

rozaiba:

in prison;)

Ras:
How could u miss out the ``pattay Tikkay``??

T: What were you doing in Landi Kotal?

t,

All I remember about Landi Kotal....

Guns and Charas.....

No prisons!


Ras

dreamz:
:)

PM:
… but we have a choice every minute…
….if it was not this early in the morning and i wasn’t my cheerful self…oh! am usually very upbeat first thing in the morning…heheh….digressing as usual….as i wake up a smile plays on the lips…realizing i am alive!....so where was i pat?....yes, you said we have a choice every minute…well…we can go into a long and almost always inconclusive discussion over fate and free will and ordained and ….jab’r aur qad’r…so!….let me say in reply mostly ....and see if you take a hint or want to slug it out;)

Syd:
...we can hardly be unaware…it surrounds us…tend to think we are not comfortable with it…in a certain sense you might say i have a fatalistic attitude …and frankly i wish it was an enduring faith or some such esoteric philosophical attitude…but am strangely ambivalent…neither looking forward nor afraid of… so someday it will come knocking...big deal…meanwhile…there are a few posts i can write…a few poems to re-write;)

...and almost forgot…wishes for health and peace on this day:)…remind me…around jesus’s b-d we should get together….with bat (if she is back) and others in TO…have an Asimov book set aside for you;)

ana:
...i played with it…finally settled for it outside the main body…the kids playing in the dusty square out ‘west’ or in this case ‘north-west’ adds a certain colour and build up…so left it there…but in the main body found it …er….slightly distracting….try reading without it….

...also…was aiming to achieve the simplicity and depth and poignancy of am no god…rest i have already covered above…

cipram:
...yes tomorrow is unknown and a given…that is the crux!...

Azure and others….thanks for reading

rgds and lve

t

The poem dreamz posted in #4 reminded me of the different types of people that Al-Ghazali highlighted in his book relating to the Afterlife, and how some people wish to live forever and some live as if the very next second would herald their death. Death is indeed very painful for those who have fallen in love with this world to such an extent that to seperate themselves from it appears to be out of the question. During the course of their worldly lives they never thought or felt that one day their very own body would be underground in the unforgiving seclusion, rotting away and being eaten by worms. They consider themselves immortal... but when the angel of death finally arrives without permission into their house, they`re shocked, they cry and beg for him to go away... but the only response they get from his side is Why did you not cry before about your inevitable death? Why did you not ask forgiveness from the Almighty for your sins? And now you kneel before an angel who has been sent by Him to extract your soul? You shall be shown no mercy! Thus death becomes painful for him... much to the sadness of his relatives standing next to his death bed.

Then there are the ones who smile at the thought of death because for them death is the meeting with their Creator. The moment for which they have waiting for all their lives finally arrives, and the embrace death with the same love an ordinary man embraces the delicacies of this world. Their love for Him is extreme, and it is this love which put`s softness into the heart of the angel of death, and who is commanded by the Almighty to extract the soul of that particular believer with ease so that he does not feel any pain.

It is also quite logical to accept that death is painful to the one who is more interested in living and is afraid of the possible eternal darkness that lies before his eyes. He struggles hard and tries to fight back, and thus makes the process a lot more cumbersome for himself. A matter of personal faith, simply. It is painless for the one who is ready to enter Nothingness, and who has a life miserable enough that he might want to end it any second. It is also painless for the believer, who knows that now he would be meeting his Creator. But whatever the case might be, death comes to all. So it is pointless to be afraid of it and worry... it can happen any moment.

It`s is better if we live with an open heart... and like temporal said, let us celebrate life…live to the fullest within reason…tomorrow we may be released from this prison …no big deal.

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t. maan. . .
i remember reading this in unplugged sometime ago (which may in part be the answer to the question you asked me)

first a stylistic question: why the decision to make the section about the children a smaller font than the rest of the poem? i have my thoughts on that one but i wanted to hear yours.

i don`t remember what i said when i read this poem the first time, but i do think it had something with the `unawareness` on our parts, that indeed so many of us are in prisons of our own making, or trapped behind invisible bars that someone else has set up for us. and we don`t realize that as we see rather smugly or condescendingly those who are literally behind bars. i guess our bodies are a type of prison. . .though i don`t necessarily view it that way. i don`t see `life` on a broader canvas as a prison.

lve. ana xo

PM: arre yaar, you knock it off!!! waisay, i think that something dies within us and then something is born that takes its place, every minute. . .otherwise i`d really be dead by now : )

t,

Are we unaware that we are behind invisible bars or are we afraid to acknowledge that?

Is it our fear of obscurity, that everything in our lives will converge to a small point of nothingness?

I don`t know. Death is the only certainty and for some strange reason, it makes you want to think of it not.

Knock it off guys! ``We die every minute``? Maybe, but we have a choice every minute; maybe not on the bigger questions , but at least within the space that that bich destiny doles out. it`s exploring and expanding that space, and yes, dancing in it, that consitutes freedom, or life.

But I did like the poem. Yes, many of us on the `outside` (of the prison of poverty?) fail to realize the fetters on our own limbs.

t:

When life as opening buds is sweet,
And golden hopes the fancy greet,
And Youth prepares his joys to meet
Alas! how hard it is to die!

When just is seized some valued prize,
And duties press, and tender ties
Forbid the soul from earth to rise
How awful then it is to die!

When, one by one, those ties are torn,
And friend from friend is snatched forlorn,
And man is left alone to mourn,
Ah then, how easy `tis to die!

When faith is firm, and conscience clear,
And words of peace the spirit cheer,
And visioned glories half appear,
`Tis joy, `tis triumph then to die.

...so what is the big deal about the imprisonment in this body?...we will earn our freedom…what is the big deal about dying? Is it some kind of shocking, sudden revelation to us?...something we did not know…that nobody prepared us for?....don’t we know that with each breath we exhale we get closer to the ultimate rest…..ultimate physical rest?....than why is it so perplexing… why we are so uncomfortable at the mention of something so inevitable?...and this is really very puzzling for those of us who profess the muslim faith…haven’t we been told to ever expect death…that this stay on earth is transitory?...are we going to go on forever?...even duracell runs out of stored energy at some point...

...i see living as a prelude to dying…experiencing some unknown unfelt experience…who knows what death has in store for us…may be something…maybe nothing…whatever...living is a cycle we endure…juts like unknowingly we endure birth in a family, country or religion (or lack of it)…do we have a choice?...

..and don’t forget this also…some of us who live with an abundance of hate and intolerance are dead already…breathing zombies…we ought to learn from them while alive…do we?

...so we are alive…let us celebrate life…live to the fullest within reason…tomorrow we may be released from this prison …no big deal:)

Azure

...this body is just another prison…we are not like that inmate…we can do something with this prison…if not for us, for others…hope am clear that am not fatalistic...but do we care?

dreamz

...thanks…living we die every second…so dying cannot be all that bad?:)

rgds,

t

The way you talk about Life as a prison; i see no other way out of it other than death --which is an end to the misery & the suffering that u probably tried to point out...is it ?

..I died from minerality and became vegetable;
And From vegetativeness I died and became animal.
I died from animality and became man.
Then why fear disappearance through death?
Next time I shall die
Bringing forth wings and feathers like angels;
After that, soaring higher than angels -
What you cannot imagine,
I shall be that..
(Rumi)

Life`s Prison? That`s scary. Trying to be an optimist is getting harder everyday with stories of hate for life and the misery it brings to some being told all around you... or is it the sorry state of the locals of that area that the poet has tried to point out?