She asks me <br />What is a poem? <br /> <br />Her shapely nose, <br />Her lips like two slices of water melon, <br />Her eyes reflecting clear blue sky, <br />Her thick hair like dark grey clouds, <br />Her horizon-like forehead <br />Are poems. <br /> <br />Frolicking of children, <br />Gossiping old women, <br />Cheering buddies gathered to spend an evening together, <br />Waiting travellers with carry-on bags in hand, <br />Strolling couples in a park, picnickers, <br />Are all features of a poem. <br />Lively sunlight warming the sanitorium stairs, <br />A nude poster, <br />A gypsy girl, <br />Are poems. <br /> <br />Ramble through a wonderland, <br />Laughter at an amusement park, <br />Still blue lake, <br />Scream of herons slipping on the rocks, <br />Thunder of a water fall, <br />Symphony of four seasons, <br />Song of pure rains, <br />Silent hunch of rainbow, arching over all, <br />Are poems. <br /> <br />Children of Bosnia <br />All are words of a poem. <br />Prior to gang rape <br />Women were preambles to poems, <br />Now they are complete poems. <br />Suppressed scream of a prisoner <br />In torture chamber <br />Is also a poem. <br />The blood ablaze <br />In the snow clad valley of Kashmir <br />Is fast becoming a poem. <br />Death of the starving in Somalia is a poem. <br />Coffin of the peace keeping soldier <br />Is a real-life poem. <br /> <br />She asks me, what is a poem? <br />Shall I tell her <br />That her poem inscribing fingers are too a poem <br />And her handwriting, <br />Her handsome portrait, <br />Her brown sandal <br />Even destiny under her feet <br />Are a poem. <br /> <br />She knows! <br />She is a poem to me clad in mauve. <br />Still she asks me <br />What is a poem? <br /> <br /> <br />(1992, Translated from Urdu by Samina Amjad, Translation reviewed by Lillian Thomas)<br /><br />Naseer Ahmed Nasir<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/poem-for-a-poem/
