ROSES

AND

THORNS

S E E M I    A S A D

Daastan PVT LTD

House # A-41, Madni Street, Lala Rukh, Wah Cantt, Punjab 47040

www.daastan.com

www.meraqissa.com

Text copyright  © Seemi Asad

Book cover copyright © Seemi Asad

Edited & Formatted by Maliha Zafar

The moral rights of the writer and illustrator have been asserted.

All rights reserved.

This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or distributed in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

ISBN 978-969-696-622-7

Printed and bound in Pakistan by Pixel Printing Solutions

To my mother, the light of my life.

THE WORLDLY BAZAAR

In the worldly bazaar

I am taken by different colors

colors that even rainbows do not wear

colors that only humans wear

of beliefs and perceptions.

Bewitched, I rushed to get drowned in colors

one after another, and another, and another.

Drenched, tinted, and pigmented I am,

The paleness of my skin is not visible

my vision is concealed,

my hearing is deafened,

I am strangled

unable to move even my head.

I see what the colors want me to see

I hear what the colors want me to hear,

I lead in the direction of the colors.

I am taken by restlessness now,

confined,

strained vision

no hearing of my own.

I dive in rivers

yet the colors don’t escape my skin,

get me zam-zam

maybe that will help.

The colors; like the Pharaoh’s magician’s ropes,

they are headed to sting me,

to poison me to death.

Sometimes, they are like the fish that swallowed Younus

other times they are Yousuf’s well,

only without an angel to watch over.

THE WALL OF PATIENCE

How do you travel in life

without erecting walls of patience?

What have you gained in life

without carrying the pitchers of patience?

The world inside human life is wider

than all the worlds combined.

The skies are vast, and so are the treasures.

There are rains and storms

The sun and the moon

The stars and the planets.

When the skies of your life are spotted

with the gray of the clouds,

your patience wears out

you awaken storms and hurricanes

of complaints, of tears of impatience.

Your chain of complaints stretches,

then your grief piles up

And you shed a little of the cloud in mere stupidity,

without knowing what heavy rain can bring to lands,

especially to your barren heart.

A new life!

Yet you don’t wonder,

and let your heart slip

and fall in the drops of grief

you are accustomed to shedding.

Stop burdening Earth with your whining,

and complaining of the clouds

that appear in your life.

Learn to withstand,

learn patience,

for only patience can bring life after rain.

Patience is cure

all the religions’ tool

to acquire peace

to walk a gentle walk on Earth.

MY PAPER IS CRUMPLED

My paper is crumpled,

my pen leaks ink

the world looks empty

I find no words to write about

The breeze blows,

the leaves sing,

the trees dance

the rose lost its petals,

it is grieving the separation

The sky frees water,

the drops are descending

to meet the river

What a union!

The lover is wedded to his beloved,

the bride is shedding tears

making everyone cry,

the groom’s entranced

for he has found his joy, his only desire

What a union!

That’s how the world goes

One has to suffer

to make another joyous.

DAWN TILL DUSK

I have set up camp,

waiting for a glimpse of yours,

near your abode

yet you don’t appear

Not even for a moment,

that my eyes are roaming

from dawn till dusk

to have a glimpse of you

yet you don’t appear

The sun appears every day

the rays stretch and withdraw

the night steals the day

the moon betrays night

Like you betrayed the Eden of my heart

eating the forbidden fruit

taking away my peace and joy

like the jealous brothers of Joseph.

GLITTERS AND SHIMMERS

All those faces were adorned

with colors and shades of different sorts

glitters and shimmers,

their bodies radiating the scent of attar

When I peeked at their souls

I found them engulfed by dust, dirt

and a stench embellished with hypocrisy

the drawers of their hearts filled

with rage unnamed

hatred undefined.

WHERE DOES HUMAN EXISTENCE RESIDE?