Manshoor Nazki (Voices Within 2023)

Manshoor Nazki is the 3rd generation poet in a reputed family of poets and scholars belonging to Kashmir, India. Manshoor is a successful corporate lawyer by profession and works in Bengaluru. Even while living in Bengaluru away from the picturesque valley of Kashmir, his poems remind the readers of a lost paradise. Besides writing poetry, Manshoor has a keen interest in western music and photography.

 

Dream of death

 

I dream of a place where the land ends

That place has a friend that is lost to sea

I stand alone as I curse this bend

That keeps you hidden forever from me

 

I will wait for the heavens to fall

To flatten this earth and swallow the seas

I will wait my love, I will wait alone

Until I wake up or until I dream

 

Maybe death is a dream

A dream in an endless night

Or maybe like the years that went

Before you were even born

Death is nothing, nothing at all

 

Maybe life is a dream

In a sleep that is almost death

Or maybe us and no one else

Are the only ones awake

And all we do is wait, till we fall asleep and finally dream

 

Meet by the river

 

How many years

Since I saw your face

There must be new lines there

I haven’t spoken to yet

 

I had read every line

Of your prophetic palms

There must be a new ending there

With new people you’ve since met

 

Every imperfection there

My touch had slowly traced

I had memorised the tales you know

Of every scar but still

 

I was just a memory

For you an endless wait

Come meet me by the river?

Come see me on the hill?

 

What if I am not

 

Strange voices crawl in

From my window tonight

Overpowering my silence

Imposing their light

 

I pretend the echoes

Are of long-lost friends

Who’d come unannounced

Fight and make amends

 

As shadows fill the room

I pretend I’m alright

Just someone making a point

Just someone faking a smile

 

The darkness still lingers

Like a long endless night

Bit by bit, it eats away

I’m left with just this thought

 

What if I’m the shadows?

What if I’m not?

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Setu, November 2023 :: Voices Within 2023