A Soul’s

Meditation

by

Dr. Humaira Irfan

Daastan Publishing 2023

First Published in Pakistan by Daastan PVT LTD

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

www.daastan.com

www.meraqissa.com

Text copyrights © Dr. Humaira Irfan

Book Design copyright © Maisah Nauman

Edited by: Mariam Rizvi

The moral rights of the writer, illustrator and editor 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 978-969-696-927-3

Dr. Humaira Irfan has embarked on the timeless and enduring territory of the “soul” with grace & depth. Dr. Irfan meets each challenge – topics that poets & philosophers have pondered for centuries – with an unwavering optimism that journeys through “an obscure voyage” while humanizing it with “a prayer to heaven (that) softens indifference.” At the end, her message seems clear: the soul is always tethered to hope. This collection is a poetic achievement!

Michael Cirelli

American poet and founder of US National Youth Poet Laureate Program

I always knew the author for a budding scholar so it is a pleasant surprise to discover that she is also a creative writer. The three elements I notice in her work are: nostalgic wistfulness for a loss of some relationship, deeply felt veneration for some ostensibly superior being and a sense of the ephemeral nature of human life. Her style is concrete as she uses images, metaphorical language and evocative words to express her emotion. I wish her success.

Dr. Tariq Rahman

Author of A History of Pakistani Literature in English

Poems in this book seem to mark a period in the poet's life, a period of reflection and healing. Poetry, I believe evolves on its own. 'Life' is the raw material it saves and savours to carve out itself. A poet's job never ends; it must not end. I hope Humaira will also keep writing, keep healing her soul.

Yasmeen Hameed

Author of Pakistani Urdu Verse: An Anthology 

PREFACE

I embarked on my soul’s voyage in 2011 amidst my PhD data analysis chaos and anguish.  While striving to organize and interpret my enormous data, I in deep meditation accidently composed a few lines that sensibly expressed my longing and simultaneously revealed my potential for poetry.  The soul’s 12 years’ meditation is compiled as a book with the title “A Soul’s Meditation” that comprises 28 poems. 

The poetry is philosophical and reflective in nature. A soul critically, intuitively and sensitively ruminates over key social concepts and practices of ideal and divine leadership, cosmic vision in silence underneath closed shutters in a fleeting trance.

The body searches its soul through subtle probing contemplation over the notions of prayers, hallucinations, dreams and illusions. The hollow void is ultimately engulfed with the unification of two hemispheres. However, in the face of bristly voyage, the soul does not break up and catharsis ends on an optimistic memo. 

Yours Sincerely,

Dr. Humaira Irfan

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. An Obscure Vision.
2. A Lifetime Moment
3. An Ideal Leader
4. Tempest
5. Discovering New Meanings in Truth.
6. My Dreams
7. A Cosmic Personality.
8. Optimism..
9. Reflections on Independence Day Celebrations
10. Unification of Two Hemispheres
11. Silent Prayer
12. All is not Lost
13. A Divine Personage.
14. Hallucinations
15. An Impulsive Slip-up.
16. The Soul does not Break Up.
17. Ocean.
18. A Fleeting Trance. 
19. The Closed Shuttles
20. A Gyre.
21. Silence. 
22. Slumber 
23. Walk Away. 
24. A Subtle Question.
25. A Portrait on the Wall
26. A Wistful Wish.
27. Longing.
28. Misty Eyes 

1.

An Obscure Vision

A shimmering vision falters on the wailing humanity