Poem: An old man in the forest
By Yanis Iqbal
In the smooth darkness of night,
The senile man woke up
And looked plaintively at the bediamonded sky.
He went outside,
Softly walked on the dewy grass,
Quietly gazed at the steel-grey clouds.
In the magically misted forest,
He sheathed the gold-green leaves
In the allness of his soul,
Sowed the unsowed seeds of divine ecstasy
In the unploughed soil of love.
From the serene river of compassion,
He drank a handful of water
Mystically he touched,
The crinkled bark of the tree of forgiveness.
The old man never returned from the forest.
He didn’t want to see the grief-stricken mother
Watering her child’s grave
With a tumbler of tears
He didn’t want to see the wretched people,
Bruised by bruteness
Haunted by hunger,
Dying with a beggar’s bowl
Outside the rich man’s castle.
Bio:
Yanis Iqbal is a freelance writer and student working in Aligarh.
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