A poetic end

The evening glows in a golden light

No dark clouds are pouring rain

As I walk to the sunset one last time

May your smile wash away my pain

May your thoughts fill my vivid dreams

As I slip into the endless night

When the music of life begins to ebb

May your song be my lullaby

May your soft breath caress my face

As I breathe in the last of mine

In your warm embrace, may I fall

In love with you one more time

May the last thing I see be your eyes

Of solemn grace and silent strength

As beautiful as our journey was

May just as poetic be its end

---

Inspired by these poignant lines from a ghazal by Qateel Shifai

aakhri hichki tere zaanu pe aaye

maut bhi main shaairana chahta hoon

Why do I write?

Why do I douse my deepest thoughts

In ink and lay them on a paper white

And weave them into words and verse

To what end, I wonder, do I write

I write, perhaps, with the hope someday

Someone may find the shards of my soul

Like petals dried in the pages of books

And put me together into a whole

And know me, beyond the gilded masks

I don for my mistress of vanity

And beyond the baubles bestowed on me

By the benign grace of destiny

And see me, beyond the clothes that hide

My naked flaws in thought and deed

My basest fears and baseless dreams

Memories that bruise, scars that bleed

I write so someone may know me someday

See the real me, without love or loathe

But simply, clearly, with a kind eye

As a soul would see its kindred soul

I write for the lonely child who plays

Hide and seek with the world around

And leaves a trail of words to her place

I write so someday she may be found

When the night dies

In silent grace comes the unassuming night

Draped in a cape of a golden light

She shrouds the earth, from hill to the sea

With her cloak of dark and tranquil peace

And the earth, so wearied by the drudging day

Melts in her arms, finds warm solace

With a hand, she pins stars in the skies

And with the other, she fills the jaded eyes

Of tired souls with placid sleep

And whispers oh such magical dreams

That no man, no tree, nor beast she meets 

Is left untouched by her wand that heals

But soon she sees the break of dawn

And knows it is now time to move on

When come the first pink rays of the sun

She fades away, biding farewell to none

And the world awakens in sweet delight

Ever so grateful for the soothing night

So deep do some souls touch our lives

That only joy fills the hole they leave behind

And that is why when the great night dies

No laments are heard, none mourns nor cries

But for a sentimental flower or two

Whose hearts bleed tears of morning dew