Poetry: Qaisar Bashir

On the Bank of Madhumati

One clear forenoon,
I sat on the bank
of Madhumati,
The seamless flow
of life in it, made me
wonder: let me stitch my
muse on the stainless face
of its liquid canvas;
I stitched a line
For the aura around was fine;
But when I stitched another,
the tongue of my needle
broke and bled,
turned the canvas red!

... a Dozen Times

That hot and dark July night,
And the absence of my man
Gave me no respite,
I didn't sleep
But tossed on my bed;
A candle sat
On a windowsill like a minaret:
Illumining my room;
My still shadow
On the wall, stared at me;
I too fixed my gaze
At the shadow; rose to touch it
To say adieu to my loneliness,
But as my fingertips
Kissed my calm shadow,
I heard a knock on the window
Of my room. It scared me.
I put the candle off immediately
And from within, said: who could it be?
"Open the window or we'll break it," a male
Voice threatened.
I tried to scream,
But couldn't. I felt like
somebody held me by my neck
To choke me.
"Sister f**r, open the window," he threatened again.
"Do it, quickly... or we'll
Break windows, and shoot you inside."
They might be renegades, I thought.
Their mad shouts
Made the san dogs bark;
The barking intensified,
And compelled the men, outside
break a window in pieces;
I wailed and wailed and wailed,
But of no avail;
Since they barged in, a man
Switched the torch on; the light
Fell straight on my eyes, almost blinded me;

They stuffed my scarf in my mouth,
Bound my legs and arms,
And screwed me a dozen times!

About Author
Qaisar Bashir (born, 1988), an educator, a translator, author and poet, hails from Kashmir. He has a Master's Degree in English Literature from Kashmir University. Once Upon A Time, a translation of a Kashmiri novel Akh Dour by Bandsi Nirdoush, is his debut achievement. His poems have been
published in various National and International Journals like The Criterion, Langlit, Muse India and
atunispoetry.com.

Setu, August 2018