1. MOTHER

A glow of mixed feelings shone upon my new soul,

Too young to comprehend,

Was it pain or was it bliss?

I knew it was evident acceptance to the new role.

Was this my ally who fed me all day?

Or an antagonist who would keep all my curiosities at bay?

The latter, I now know was just my naiveté.

A transition from twisting ears,

To bumping fists,

Was the best crux in my life’s story.

And I would never change that,

Even if I had to abandon all of my life’s glory.

How much could a verse of poetry ever convey?

When what I feel for her,

Goes deeper than the deepest canyon,

And more eternal than time itself.

2. INSIGHT

Credits: Ghufran Imtiaz

2.1. Fruits of Solitude

Enclosed in these walls of white,

With a clock, which has ticked more than a fortnight.

Can I really act like everything is all right,

When the world is faced with a fearful fight?

I’m glowing with an apathetic smile,

Dwelling in a prison of an isle.

“Would I rather live in exile?”

I’ve had time to think about it for a while.

Look at the bright side they said;

Not the pain it had bred,

Or the hearts that had bled,

Or the cries over the dead.

But the bright side they said.

A quarantine God wanted to impose,

What he wanted to screen, he alone knows.

Let’s just go through with these woes,

As a charlatan rises from the shadows.

2.2. So Much More

I’m not just a surname,

I shall thrive beyond your fame,

And be my own flame.

I’m not just a number,

I shall grow beyond measure,

And be my own scale.

I’m not the victor of just one obstacle,

I shall win so much more,

Beyond all your limitations I shall soar.

Trample all over me during my lows,

Push me behind your expectations,

Gloat on me with your pitiful glories,

With an unimpressed expression,

I shall walk out on your lowly hall of fame.

I say this not in arrogance,

And definitely not because I’m certain of my glory.

But only as an admonition to myself,

For every time I feel content amidst your luxuries.

2.3. A Nightmare

Oh, the beauty of temporal death!

Subtly absorbing all the serenity of the cosmos,

My consciousness is fading,

In this self-created reality, I’m engrossed.

What are these starry figures?

Faintly closing in on me,

They treat me with such hospitality.

But what is this feeling?

This feeling of awful distress.

Is this the suffocation of love in excess?

Oh, the insanity of temporal death!

What started as a day in the abode of bliss,

Has now become the darkest night in the pit of the abyss.

2.4. A Broken Bird

Flying through endless perfect skies,

Bound by a flock so mighty,

We fly over a broken paradise.

Feeling my majestic wings tear through the wind,

I fly over a lake which shows me a ghastly reflection.

My wings torn and my crest tainted,