Kashmiryat

Kashmiryat
Originally uploaded by flickr photographerno1

kashmiryat in the
eyes of this little girl child in bloom
a valley gods heavenly paradise
turned to gloom
they all shed tears
when will we start living again
when will peace resume
a cherished land
of muslims pandits sufis
hatredness wants to consume
broken black boards
tattered school books
the kids across the borders
silence screeching
in empty class rooms

parents alive
the bodies of their children
entomb
feelings , memories
dead childhood
oh how to exhume
some more sorrow
voices in a newsroom
a bride mehndi
turned to blood
sits on the grave of her bridegroom
a mother raped
someone elses child in her womb
yes terrorism of mind body soul
mankind up in fumes
all around
sounds of gunfire
shelling
unceasing doom
who is right
who is wrong
who is weak
who is strong
kashmiryat
strewn among dead bodies
an ancestral heirloom
to clean up
all this rot
a new tomorrow
hope fragrance of perfume
harmony
mutual coexistence
alittle love lliving
loving
each one giving the other
a little elbow room
kashmiryat
that strong spirit
will always
remain ablooom
says a voice
from within
the hazrats tomb

I have never visited Kashmir,I was In Ladakh but missed it by a whisker, I meet Kashmiri s who want me to come celebrate Moharam in Srinagar , but this wish never materialized, I saw this little Kashmiri girl with her young parents in the train on my way back to Mumbai from Delhi..seeing her eyes the words of this poem started flowing like an ebullient stream in hurry to meet her lover on the river bank...We all hope for Peace for everyone in the Valley ..may Sanity prevail.. may the kind winds spread kindness all around...
Kashmiryat means the undying spirit of Kashmir.
Firoze Shakir
mumbai
2 May 2007