Saturday, February 03, 2007

The Last Shadow


I stand rooted
The grey gust of your despair
Blows through my hair
I watch your footprints
As your receding form scatters them
Like forsaken memories

For so long now
Every step of yours
Tugged at my anklets
Of hope
That bound me to you
Enchained with you
But free to roam
I have walked behind you
I have embraced your shadow with every rising sun
And comforted you with mine at every sunset

When the wind carried your laughter
I have breathed it deep
And held it long
Till I could breathe no more
And when you cried
I picked the grains of sand
That your falling tears had hardened
Till my hands overflowed
And I could pick no more

Now the anklets are worn
And my feet are bruised
My shadow stretches to you this last sunset
Till you walk away
Beyond it
My feet don’t move any more
They are heavy now
With exhaustion
Bandaged
With helplessness

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lovely, Sadia. Just beautiful.
" My shadow stretches to you..."
thats real good. This blog is one of your most creative ones. Kudos, Kumail.

Arfi said...

Wonderful read sadia ... creates a mood.

"I have embraced your shadow ....... comforted you with mine at every sunset" , liked that a lot!

Vik said...

Absolutely awesome!

I liked the third stanza most!

Sadia said...

Kumail: I often feel I have lost my earlier touch or atleast the spontaneity of saying something as and when I want. Im glad you find this creative.. gives me hope for myself :)

Arfi: those are my favourite lines too :)

Introvert: Thanks. I'm glad you liked it

Anonymous said...

Excellent poem Classoo your best till date. Like the 3rd para the best. "They are heavy now
With exhaustion" - a smile seems enough to refresh u, to come back and embrace the shadow :) - Atts

Kumail said...

Sadia, ek observation....aise hee....why is it 'I' and 'me'? why not 'you' ? Meer ka ek sheyr yaad aata hai - "hairat aati hai uski baaten dekh,
Khud saari Khud sataai Khud raai ". wanna read something from you which describes the feelings of the other party involved. :)

Sadia said...

Atts: Glad you liked it :) A smile might ease the exhaustion and perhaps extend a mile of the chained journey but I doubt it would help it last beyond that :)

Kumail: Can't be presumptuous ... I know only about myself and then even if i write about "you" what else would it be but a mere projection of "me". Theres a school of thought which professes that one cannot think like anyone else but like himself, at best in the other's shoes :)

Anonymous said...

Nice poem, Sadia. A bit of Faiz in the first stanza...
Keep the faith I should say. "yaar se ched chali jaaye 'Asad', na sahi vasl hasrat hi sahi"

Nitin Sinha said...

nice poem classy.
phew!! finally ended up with making a little virtual space for myself :) if keen, have a look. its just out there in world..need to grow :)
http://polyphonic-reality.blogspot.com/

Sadia said...

anant :)
what to do when "hasrat" seems dearer than "vasl". a typical case of keeping illusions alive :)

Sinner: Checked your blog. welcome to the world of those who say for they have to speak :)

Anonymous said...

...and the illusionist busy :-)

Hey, I need some help from you. Can you give me the meanings of these words:

1. be-khwaanama (from Ek khalish ko...)
2. musht-e-ghobaar and 'paye faateha' from Bahadur Shah Zafar's 'Na kisi ki aankh ka noor hoon, na kisi ke dil ka karaar hoon.'

Thanks.

Do you know of any comprehensive online Urdu dictionary?

Anant

Sadia said...

i think bekhwanama means placeless or shelterless.. the other two im not too sure about but will find out and tell you. I mean in both cases i seem to know half the word and the other i might have to guess. i use e-bazm online dictionary but not too happy with it :)

Anonymous said...

musht-e-ghubaar = handful of dust.
pa-e-faatehaa = to recite Faateha ( bless the dead - loose translation)
Kumail.

Anonymous said...

You write really well. Waded through your archives and loved it too.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Kumail and Sadia. I too like Sadia had half guessed the meanings but wanted to know for sure :-)